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An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable disease, is an illness resulting from an infection. Infections can be caused by a wide range of pathogens , most prominently bacteria and viruses . [ 2 ]
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to concepts related to infectious diseases in humans.. Infection – transmission, entry/invasion after evading/overcoming defense, establishment, and replication of disease-causing microscopic organisms (pathogens) inside a host organism, and the reaction of host tissues to them and to the toxins they produce.
Medications are usually not needed as hand, foot, and mouth disease is a viral disease that typically resolves on its own. Under research [15] [16] Sin Nombre virus: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) No Heartland virus: Heartland virus disease No Helicobacter pylori: Helicobacter pylori infection No Escherichia coliO157:H7, O111 and O104:H4
A zoonosis is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen that can jump from a non-human host to a human. [35] Major diseases such as Ebola virus disease and salmonellosis are zoonoses. HIV was a zoonotic disease transmitted to humans in the early part of the 20th century, though it has now evolved into a separate human-only disease. [36]
Infectious diseases, also known as transmissible diseases or communicable diseases, comprise clinically evident illness (i.e., characteristic medical signs or symptoms of disease) resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism. [32]
Common human diseases caused by viruses include the common cold, influenza, chickenpox and cold sores. Serious diseases such as Ebola and AIDS are also caused by viruses. [50] Many viruses cause little or no disease and are said to be "benign". The more harmful viruses are described as virulent. [51]
In biology, a pathogen (Greek: πάθος, pathos "suffering", "passion" and -γενής, -genēs "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ. [1] The term pathogen came into use in the 1880s.
There are four kinds of microorganisms that cause infectious disease: bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses, and one type of infectious protein called prion. A medical microbiologist studies the characteristics of pathogens , their modes of transmission, mechanisms of infection and growth.