Definition. Rickets (in children) and osteomalacia (in adults) are two forms of a metabolic bone disease resulting from vitamin D deficiency. Both cause softening and weakening of bones because of defective or inadequate bone mineralization. Rickets. Copyright Â© Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
The flow from west to east: Disease. In terms of diseases, the Columbian Exchange was a wildly unequal affair, and the Americas got the worst of it. The flow of disease from the Americas eastward into Eurasia and Africa was either trivial or consisted of a single important infection.
COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE. The title of this article refers to the interchange of plants and food products that took place between America and Europe after Columbus's voyages to the New World.