Definitions Flashcards
DEFINITION:
Person or animal that harbors the infectious agent/disease and can transmit it to others but does not demonstrate signs of the disease
Carrier
DEFINITION:
Exposure to a source of an infection; a person who has been exposed.
Contact
Which of the following is NOT true in regards to a “Contact”
A) Contact is an exposure to the source of an infection
B) Contact describes a person who has been infected with an STI
C) Contact describes a person who has been exposed to COVID-19
D) Contact describes a person who has been exposed to Tuberculosis
B) Contact describes a person who has been infected by an STI
**Contact does not imply the person HAS been infected, it just implies that their is a POSSIBILITY they have been infected because they were exposed to an infectious source. **
The term “Contact” does not imply infection, it implies the _________ of infection
Possibility
DEFINITION:
Capable of being transmitted from person to person by contact or proximity. Does not need or utilize a vector.
Contagious
DEFINITION:
An organism that harbors a parasitic, mutualistic, or commensalism guest.
Host
The host is the house & the parasite is the freeloader.
DEFINITION:
An organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.
Parasite
What are the three main classes of human parasites?
1) Protozoa
2) Helminths
3) Ectoparasites
DEFINITION:
An infectious agent or organism that can produce disease.
Pathogen
DEFINITION:
Invasion of the body tissues of a host by an infectious agent, regardless if it causes disease or not.
Infection
DEFINITION:
A pathway into the host that gives an agent access to tissue that will allow it to multiply or act.
Portal of entry
DEFINITION:
A population of organisms or the specific environment in which an infectious pathogen naturally lives and reproduces; usually a living host of a certain species.
Reservoir
DEFINITION:
A pathogen that is transmissible from non-human animals (typically vertebrates) to humans
Zoonosis
DEFINITION:
An increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in that area.
Epidemic
DEFINITION
Carries the same definition of epidemic but is often used for a more limited geographic area.
Outbreak
DEFINITION
The constant presence of an agent or health condition within a given geographic area or population
Endemic
Ex: Malaria in sub-saharan africa
Malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa is an example of:
A) Pandemic
B) Epidemic
C) Endemic
D) Outbreak
C) Endemic
DEFINITION:
An epidemic occurring over a widespread area (multiple countries or continents) and usually affecting a substantial proportion of the population.
Pandemic
DEFINITION:
Any of a group of viruses that are transmitted between hosts by mosquitoes, ticks, and other arthropods.
Arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus)
Malaria, Dengue Fever, West Nile Virus, Lyme Disease, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever are examples of _____________.
Arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus)
DEFINITION:
Resistance developed in response to an antigen (pathogen or vaccine) characterized by the presence of antibody produced by the host.
Active Immunity
DEFINITION:
When a majority of a given group is resistant/immune to a pathogen. This confers protection to unvaccinated or susceptible individuals/group by reducing the likelihood of infection or spread.
Herd Immunity
DEFINITION:
Transfer of active humoral immunity of ready-made antibodies produced by another host or synthesized. Is used when there is a high risk of infection & insufficient time for the body to develop its own immune response. Short Term!
Passive Immunity
DEFINITION:
Describes any illness, impairment, degradation of health, chronic, or age-related disease
Morbidity
↑ Morbidity = ↓ lifespan & ↑ mortality when infected with any pathogen.
Crofab (Rattlesnake Antivenom) is an example of what type of immunity?
Passive
DEFINITION:
Time interval from a person being infected to the onset of symptoms of an infectious disease.
Incubation Period
DEFINITION:
Time interval from a person being infected to the time of infectiousness of an infectious disease.
Latency Period
DEFINITION:
An infection that is nearly or completely asymptomatic. Person is an asymptomatic carrier of the infection.
Sublinical Infection
DEFINITION:
A combination of symptoms characteristic of a disease or health condition; sometimes refers to a health condition without a clear cause. Greek for “concurrence.”
Syndrome
DEFINITION:
Measure of death in a defined population during a specified time interval, from a defined cause.
Mortality Rate
DEFINITION:
Transmission occurs between an infected person and a susceptible person via direct physical contact with blood or body fluids.
Direct contact (infection)
Examples: touching, kissing, sexual contact, contact with oral secretions, or contact with body lesions, coughing into each other’s mouths, etc.
Touching, kissing, sexual contact, contact with oral secretions, or contact with body lesions, coughing into each other’s mouths, are examples of ____________________.
Direct contact (infection)
DEFINITION:
Transmission occurs when there is no direct human-to-human contact.
Indirect contact (infection)
Contact occurs from:
(a) Person to contaminated surface/object to person
(b) Person to vector (mosquitoes, flies/mites/fleas/tick/rodent/dogs) to person
DEFINITION:
Indicate the onset of a disease before more diagnostically specific signs and symptoms develop.
Prodrome / Prodromal Symptoms
