disease terms

agent

A factor whose presence, excessive presence, or absence leads to occurrence of disease.

carrier

Determinant:

 factor that influences the health of a population or individual, leading to increase of disease.

 Reservoir:

habitat an agent can grow/thrive/multiple within (humans, animals, environment). can have symptoms or not, is a long-term source of the agent (eg.bats)

host:

organism that is effected +may show symptoms (human)

carrier

a host that can transmit  an infectious agent but shows no clinical signs of disease/is asymptomatic.

cluster

aggregation of cases closely grouped in time/place (regardless of whether the number of cases was greater than expected or not)

 Sporadic:

disease that occurs infrequently and irregularly

endemic

constant presence/usual prevalence of disease or an infectious agent within a specified geographical area

epidemic

sudden increase abovbe normal

pandemic

global epidemic

infectivity

ability of an agent to cause infection(to enter,survive,and multiply in the first place), usually calculated in percentage of people exposed and becoming infected. How easily can it get inside you?

pathogenicity

ability of an agent to cause clinical disease(symptoms to show) usually calculated in proportion of those exposed to agent and develops clinical disease. Does it make you sick after infection?

Virulence:

ability to cause severe illness or death

incidence

rate of new cases in a period of time

morbidity

any departure from a state of well-being (physical or mental)

prevalance

number of cases in a population at a specific point in time

infectious dose

min. dose of pathogens to cause infection in host

longitudinal COhort only

following same group for a long period of time to observe how exposure effect health outcomes (ONLY COHORT)

Index case/patient 0

first reported case of an outbreak, first person that catches it

confounding variable

something not directly related to the result, a third party that seems like it’s the result but isn’t

focal infection

A localized infection, often asymptomatic, that causes disease elsewhere in the host.

A Paradoxical carrier

A carrier that has gotten the agent from another carrier

convalescent carrier

person who has recovered from infectious disease but continues to harbor the pathogen (continues to pose risk)

primordial prevention

actions that prevents any risk of disease existing in the first place by changing people’s cultural, enviornmental, behavior living patterns.

primordial prevention ex

teaching children healthy eating habits

why is childhood vaccination not a type of primordial prevention?

any type of vaccination is considered primary because the risk is already there

Which of the following policies is NOT an example of primordial prevention?

chemotherapy for lung cancer

primary prevention

prevents disease itself

mandatory folic acid fortification in flour

primary prevention; risk already developed (poor folate intake)

airborne transmission

mucous droplets that remain airborne as aerosols

vehicle transmission “vehicles into the body”

via mediums such as food, air, liquid

what type of meat is salmonella most commonly associated with?

chicken

what is prevalence?

proportion of cases in a moment of time (cases/total population)