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Definition and related terms. An infectious disease agent can be transmitted in two ways: as horizontal disease agent transmission from one individual to another in the same generation (peers in the same age group) by either direct contact (licking, touching, biting), or indirect contact through air – cough or sneeze (vectors or fomites that allow the transmission of the agent causing the ...
Pathogen. 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]
In Latin, fomes (genitive: fomitis, plural fomites, stem fomit-) is a third-declension T-stem noun. Such nouns, like miles/militis or comes/comitis, typically lose their T (thereby becoming a syllable shorter) in the nominative singular, but retain it in all other cases. In languages derived from Latin, the French fomite, Italian fomite ...
Direct-contact transmission also can occur between two patients, with one serving as the source of the infectious microorganisms and the other as a susceptible host. Indirect-contact transmission This involves contact of a susceptible host with a contaminated intermediate object, usually inanimate, such as contaminated instruments, needles , or ...
Contagious disease. A contagious disease is an infectious disease that is readily spread (that is, communicated) by transmission of a pathogen through contact (direct or indirect) with an infected person. [1] A disease is often known to be contagious before medical science discovers its causative agent.
Fecal–oral transmission is primarily considered as an indirect contact route through contaminated food or water. However, it can also operate through direct contact with feces or contaminated body parts, such as through anal sex. It can also operate through droplet or airborne transmission through the toilet plume from contaminated toilets.
The goal is to stop the spread of a disease by finding and isolating cases. In public health, contact tracing is the process of identifying people who may have been exposed to an infected person ("contacts") and subsequent collection of further data to assess transmission. [1] [2] By tracing the contacts of infected individuals, testing them ...
Viral disease. A viral disease (or viral infection) occurs when an organism's body is invaded by pathogenic viruses, and infectious virus particles (virions) attach to and enter susceptible cells. [1] Examples are the common cold, gastroenteritis and pneumonia. [2]