infectious

(adjective)

Infectious diseases, also known as transmissible diseases or communicable diseases, comprise clinically evident illness (i.e., characteristic medical signs and/or symptoms of disease) resulting from the infection, presence, and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism.

Related Terms

Examples of infectious in the following topics:

  • The Diagnostic Scheme

    • Diagnosis of infectious disease sometimes involves identifying an infectious agent either directly or indirectly.
    • Diagnosis of infectious disease sometimes involves identifying an infectious agent either directly or indirectly.
    • Given sufficient effort, all known infectious agents can be specifically identified.
    • Biochemical tests used in the identification of infectious agents include the detection of metabolic or enzymatic products characteristic of a particular infectious agent.
    • First, the catalog of infectious agents has grown to the point that virtually all of the significant infectious agents of the human population have been identified.

  • Infectious Diseases Today and in the Developing World

    • These pathogens are the cause of disease epidemics, in the sense that without the pathogen, no infectious epidemic occurs.
    • However, some infectious diseases remain a problem today.
    • Normally not a problem to North Americans, malaria is the infectious disease most deadly to children worldwide.
    • Normally not a problem to North Americans, malaria is the infectious disease most deadly to children worldwide.
    • Assess the implications of infectious diseases in terms of health care and life expectancy of individuals

  • Diagnosing Microbial Diseases

    • The process of identifying infectious diseases is complex and requires identification of the agent through direct or indirect means.
    • It is critical to isolate the infectious agent in a pure culture containing only the infectious bacteria.
    • There are also specific types of infectious agents that require the use of xenodiagnosis to promote growth.
    • They will specifically test for metabolic and enzymatic products that an infectious agent may use.
    • PCR allows for the identification and testing for nucleic acids which are specific to the infectious agent.

  • Eliminating Comma Splices and Fused Sentences

    • There is no guarantee that none of them are harboring infectious conditions. "
    • There is no guarantee that none of them are harboring infectious conditions. "
    • Every day, millions of children go to daycare with millions of other kids, there is no guarantee that none of them are harboring infectious conditions.
    • There is no guarantee that none of them are harboring infectious conditions.
    • There is no guarantee that none of them are harboring infectious conditions.

  • Exceptions to Koch's Postulates

    • Even in Koch's time, it was recognized that infectious agents could be responsible for disease without fulfilling all of the postulates.
    • Even in Koch's time, it was recognized that some infectious agents were clearly responsible for disease, even though they did not fulfill all of the postulates.
    • Currently, a number of infectious agents are accepted as the cause of diseases despite their not fulfilling all of Koch's postulates.
    • Asymptomatic or subclinical infection carriers are now known to be a common feature of many infectious diseases, especially viruses such as polio, herpes simplex, HIV, and hepatitis C.
    • The third postulate specifies "should", not "must", because as Koch himself proved in regard to both tuberculosis and cholera, that not all organisms exposed to an infectious agent will acquire the infection.

  • Technology and New Infectious Agents

    • Technology aids in the identification of new infectious agents, but it also contributes to the emergence of new diseases.
    • The use of advanced technology and molecular methods for detection, identification, and characterization of infectious agents is gaining importance in clinical microbiology laboratories.
    • Looking back at past epidemics or outbreaks caused by previously unknown infectious agents, we realize that identification and characterization of a new infectious agent can take years, decades, or even centuries.
    • The effects of new technology on the environment are related to the emergence of many infectious diseases.
    • Give examples demonstrating the positive and negative impacts technology has had on new infectious agents

  • Intracellular Pathogens

    • A pathogen or infectious agent is a microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its host.
    • A pathogen or infectious agent is a microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its host.
    • Although the vast majority of bacteria are harmless or beneficial, a few pathogenic bacteria can cause infectious diseases.
    • According to the prion theory, prions are infectious pathogens that do not contain nucleic acids.
    • Stanley Prusiner discovered prions, which are a class of infectious self-reproducing pathogens primarily or solely composed of protein.

  • Vaccination

    • Vaccination is a proven way to prevent and even eradicate widespread outbreaks of life-threatening infectious diseases.
    • Active immunity to diseases can be acquired by natural exposure (in response to actually contracting an infectious disease) or it may be acquired intentionally, via the administration of an antigen, commonly known as vaccination .
    • Even today, the risk of contracting some of these infectious diseases, like measles and chicken pox, can have devastating, long-term complications, like blindness.
    • Certain infectious diseases, such as Smallpox, have been completely eradicated.

  • Development of New Vaccines

    • New vaccines are being developed to control recent infectious disease epidemics and cancers.
    • A number of new vaccines with major potential for controlling infectious diseases have just been licensed or are at advanced stages of development.
    • The World Health Organization (WHO) facilitates the development of vaccines against infectious diseases of major public health importance, helps improve existing immunization technologies, and ensures that these advances are made available to the people who need them the most.
    • Describe how new vaccines are being developed to help eradicate several infectious global diseases

  • Abscesses and Ulcers

    • An abscess is a collection of pus that results from an infectious process, while an ulcer is a break or opening in the mucous membrane.
    • An abscess is a collection of pus (dead neutrophils) that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue in which the pus resides, due to an infectious process (usually related to bacteria or parasites) or other foreign materials (e.g. splinters, bullet wounds, or injecting needles).
    • It is a defensive reaction of the tissue meant to prevent the spread of infectious materials to other parts of the body.
    • An abscess is a collection of pus (dead neutrophils) that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue on the basis of an infectious process (usually caused by bacteria or parasites) or other foreign materials (e.g. splinters, bullet wounds, or injecting needles).