Infectious Diseases Flashcards
Acute Disease
Disease in which symptoms develop rapidly and that runs its course quickly
Chronic Disease
Disease with usually mild symptoms that develop slowly and last a long time.
Subacute Disease
Disease with time course and symptoms between acute and chronic
Asymptomatic Disease
Disease without symptoms
Latent Disease
Disease that appears a long time after infection
Communicable Disease
Disease transmitted from one host to another
Contagious Disease
Communicable disease that is easily spread
Noncommunicable Disease
Disease arising from outside of hosts or from opportunistic pathogen
Local Infection
Infection confined to a small region of the body
Systemic Infection
Widespread infection in many systems of the body; often travels in the blood or lymph
Focal Infection
Infection that serves as a source of pathogens for infections at other sites in the body
Primary infection
Initial infection within a given patient
Secondary Infection
Infections that follow a primary infection; often by opportunistic pathogens.
Conditions for the Spread of Illnesses
One person must be infected with a microorganism.
Another person must be susceptible to infection with that microorganism.
The microorganism must be able to leave the body of the infected person and enter the body of the susceptible person.
Susceptibility
Ability to become infected with an organism when exposed to it.
People may lose susceptibility (or become immune) once they have been:
-Infected with the organism
-Vaccinated
Medications may reduce susceptibility temporarily
Mode of Transmission
The way a microorganism is spread from an infected person to a susceptible person
Contact Transmission: Direct contact & diseases spread
Handshaking, kissing, sex, bites.
Cutaneous anthrax, genital warts, gonorrhea, herpes, rabies, staphylococcus infections, syphillis
Contact Transmission: Indirect contact & diseases spread
Drinking glasses, toothbrushes, toys, punctures, droplets from coughing & sneezing
Common cold, enterovirus infections, influenza, measles, Q fever, pneumonia, tetanus, whooping cough
Vehicle Transmission: Airborne and Diseases Spread
Dust particles
Chicken pox, coccidimycosis, histoplasmosis, influenza, measles, pulmonary anthrax, tuberculosis
Vehicle Transmission: Waterborne and Diseases Spread
Streams, swimming pools
Campylobacter infections, cholera, Giardia diarrhea
Vehicle Transmission:: Foodborne and Diseases Spread
Poultry, seafood
Food poisoning (botulism, staphylococcal) hepatitis A, listeriosis, tapewarms, toxoplasmosis, typhoid fever
Vector Transmission: Mechanical and Diseases Spread
Insect bodies, flies, roaches
E. Coli diarrhea, salmonellosis, trachoma
Vector Transmission: Biological and Diseases Spread
Chagas’ disease, Lyme disease, malaria, plague, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typhus fever, yellow fever
Colonization
Infection present on the surface of the body.
Organism propagating at a rate sufficient to maintain its numbers without producing identifiable evidence of any reaction in the host.
Inapparent or subclinical infection
Organism not only multiplying but also causes a measurable reaction that is not clinically detectable
Symptomatic Infection
Organism causes clinically detectable reaction
Latency Period
Time between infection agent and onset of infectiousness
Incubation Period
Time between infection and onset of symptoms
