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A contagious disease is an infectious disease that can be spread rapidly in several ways, including direct contact, indirect contact, and Droplet contact. [1] [2] These diseases are caused by organisms such as parasites, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. While many types of organisms live on the human body and are usually harmless, these organisms ...
[9] [10] Interhuman transmission is a synonym for HHT. [11] The World Health Organization designation of a pandemic hinges on the demonstrable fact that there is sustained HHT in two regions of the world. [12]
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) [3] 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 disease without physical ...
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 ]
Asymptomatic carriers can be categorized by their current disease state. [5] When an individual transmits pathogens immediately following infection but prior to developing symptoms, they are known as an incubatory carrier. Humans are also capable of spreading disease following a period of illness.
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί epi "upon or above" and δῆμος demos "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infections , an attack rate in excess of 15 cases per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks is considered an epidemic.
A focus of infection is a place containing whatever epidemiological factors are needed for transmission of an infection. Any focus of infection will have a source of infection, and other common traits of such a place include a human community, a vector population, and environmental characteristics adequate for spreading infection.
Surveillance definitions exist for infections of the bloodstream, urinary tract, pneumonia, surgical sites and gastroenteritis. [citation needed] Surveillance traditionally involved significant manual data assessment and entry in order to assess preventative actions such as isolation of patients with an infectious disease.