paroxysm

paroxysm

1. A random or sudden outburst (of activity).
   • «There, on the soft sand, a few feet away from our elders, we would sprawl all morning, in a petrified paroxysm of desire, and take advantage of every blessed quirk in space and time to touch each other [...] » - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1955
2. A sudden recurrence of a disease.