Terms Flashcards
Person or animal that harbors the infectious agent/disease and can transmit it to others but does not demonstrate signs of the disease
Carrier
Exposure to a source of infection; a person who has been exposed.
This does not imply infection, but rather the possibility of infection
Contact
Capable of being transmitted fro person to person by contact or proximity. Does not utilize a vector
Contagious
An organism that harbors a parasitic, mutualistic, or commensalism guest.
Host
An organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.
Parasite
Three main classes of human parasites?
Protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites
An infectious agent or organism that can produce disease
pathogen
Invasion of the body tissues of a host by an infectious agent, regardless if it causes disease or not
Infection
A pathway into the host that gives an agent access to tissue that will allow it to multiply or act
Portal of entry
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
A pathogen that is transmissible from non-human animals (typically vertebrates) to humans
Zoonosis
An increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population and area
Epidemic
Carries the same definition of epidemic but is often more limited in geographic area
Outbreak
The constant presence of an agent or health condition within a given geographic area or population
endemic
An epidemic occurring over a widespread area (multiple countries or continents) and usually affecting a substantial proportion of the population
Pandemic
Any of a group of viruses that are transmitted between hosts by mosquitoes, ticks, and other arthropods
Arbovirus
Malaria, Dengue Fever, West Nile Virus, Lyme disease, Rocky mountain spotted fever
Resistance developed in response to an antigen (pathogen or vaccine) characterized by the presence of an antibody produced by the host
Active Immunity
When a majority of a given group is resistant/immune to a pathogen
Herd immunity
Transfer of active humoral immunity to ready-made antibodies produced by another host or synthesized
SHORT TERM
Rabies, tetanus, Crofab
Passive Immunity
Time interval from a person being infected to the onset of symptoms of an infectious disease
Incubation period
Time interval from a person being infected to the time of infectiousness of an infectious disease
Latency period
An infection that is nearly or completely asymptomatic. An asymptomatic carrier of the infection
Subclinical infection
A combination of symptoms, characteristics of a disease, or health condition; sometimes refers to a health condition without a clear cause
Syndrome
Measure of death in a defined population during a specific time interval, from a defined cause
Mortality Rate
Transmission occurs between an infected person and a susceptible person via direct physical contact with blood or body fluids
Direct contact
Transmission occurs when there is no direct human-to-human contact.
Vehicle Borne - contaminated surface
Vector Borne - mosquitos, tics, rodent,
Indirect contact
Often indicates the onset of a disease before more diagnostically specific signs and symptoms develop
Prodrome
