Infectious Disease Flashcards
(301 cards)
What is a person or animal that harbors an infectious agent/disease and can transmit it to others but does not demonstrate signs of the disease?
carrier
What is the exposure to a source of an infection?
contact
- contact does imply infection it implies the possibility of infection
What is the capability of being transmitted from person to person by contact or proximity?
Does not need or utilize a vector?
Contagious
What is an organisim that harbors a parasitic, mutualistic, or commensalism guest?
host
What is an organism that lives on or in host organism and gets food from or at the exposure of its host?
parasite
What are the 3 main classes of human parasite?
- protozoa
- helminths
- ectoparasites
What is an infectious agent or organism that can produce disease?
pathogen
What is the invasion of the body tissue of a host by an infectious agent, regardless if it is a disease or not?
infection
What is the pathway into the host that gives an agent access to tissue that will allow it to multiply or act?
portal of entry
What is a population of organisms or the specific environment in which an infectious pathogen naturally lives and reproduces; usually living host of a certain species?
reservior
What is an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in the population and area?
epidemic
What is a pathogen that is transmissible from non-human (typically vertebrates) animals to human?
zoonosis
What carries the same definition of epidemic but is often used for a more limited geographic are?
outbreak
What is the constant presence of an agent or health condition within a given geographic are or population?
endemic
What is an epidemic occurring over a widespread area (multiple countries or continents) and usually affecting a substantial proportion of the population?
pandemic
What is any group of viruses that are transmitted between hosts by mosquitoes, ticks, and arthropods?
arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus)
What is resistance developed in response to an antigen (pathogen or vaccines) characterized by the presence of antibody produced by the host?
active immunity
What kind of immunity occurs when a majority of a group is resistant/immune to a pathogen? This confers confers protection to unvaccinated or susceptible individual/group by reducing the likelihood of infection or spread?
herd immunity
What is the transfer of active humoral immunity of ready-made antibodies produced by another host or synthesized?
passive immunity
What is used when there is a high risk of infection and insufficient time for the body to develop its own immune response?
passive immunization
- SHORT TERM!
What describes an illness, impairment, degradation of health, chronic, or age-related disease?
morbidity
- increased morbidity = decreased lifespan and increased mortality
What is the time interval from a person being infected to the onset of symptoms of an infectious disease?
incubation period
What is the tie interval from a person being infected to the time of infectiousness of and infectious disease?
latency period
What is an infection that is nearly or completely asymptomatic.
subclinical infection