Acute infectious disease - An illness with sudden onset that has an intense but short effect on the body

Affordable Care Act (ACA) - Healthcare reform legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010 with a goal of increasing access to health insurance while controlling healthcare costs

American Academy of Family Physicians - Professional organization of primary care physicians who provide medical care for all ages. The academy supports family physicians through networking and continuing education and serves an advocate through state and federal legislation

American Hospital Association (AHA) - A national industry trade group that supports hospitals, healthcare systems, and health networks as well the communities served

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) - Application of behavioral sciences in schools and clinics to improve behavioral problems and facilitate learning; part of treatment for autism spectrum disorder

Artificial Intelligence (AI) - The use of computers and technology to simulate intelligent behavior and critical thinking; one example of AI is predicting the spread of infectious diseases in a population

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) - Group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges

Avian (bird) influenza - Strains of influenza virus that normally infect birds, including poultry but can sometimes pass to humans

Birth defects - Structural changes in organs or other body parts in infants at birth; surgery may be required to improve function. Common birth defects are structural changes to of the heart

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Branch of federal government that tracks the health of the nation and provides support to identify the causes of epidemics and foodborne illnesses.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Innovation programs - Agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that manages Medicare and Medicaid and strives to ensure effective, up-to-date healthcare coverage and to promote quality care for beneficiaries.

Chronic disease - A disease that is long in duration, reoccurs frequently, and progresses slowly

Clinical care - Service provided to an individual, group, or community to benefit their health status

Clinical preventive services - Guidelines for primary care providers to use in screening and counseling patients to prevent or reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and infectious disease.

Congenital malformation - A physical defect of an organ or body part that is present in the infant at birth

Coronavirus - One of the viruses that causes respiratory illness in animals and human beings. Beginning in 2019 the virus resulted in a worldwide pandemic and many deaths

Discrimination - Discrimination in health care refers to marginalized - those of low income, racial and ethnic minorities, and those who identify as LGBTQ - who often experience obstacles in obtaining healthcare

Disparities - Wide differences in access to health care or quality of health care based on where one lives as well as income, educational level, race, ethnicity, gender expression, or sexual orientation

Doulas - Individual who provides emotional and physical support for women during pregnancy and childbirth and after the birth of the infant to promote the health and wellbeing of the mother and infant

Ebola virus - Causes rare and deadly infection endemic to Africa; the largest Ebola epidemic in history occurred in West Africa in 2014

Electronic health records (EHRs) - Individual patient health record stored in a computer database for easy access by physicians and other healthcare workers regardless of the setting - clinic, hospital, nursing home, or emergency care center

Epidemics - An outbreak of disease in a certain geographic area in greater numbers than usual; the most common cause of an epidemic in the US is the flu

Equality - Providing the same healthcare opportunities for everyone - for example, universal immunization for infants and children

Equity - Removing obstacles to health care - for example, providing high quality health care regardless of income and providing transportation or child care to remove obstacles for prenatal care for women

Federal Poverty Level (FPL) - A measure of income level issues yearly by the HHS used to determine the eligibility for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the cost of premiums for health insurance purchased through Health Exchanges

Foodborne illness - Illness caused by food contaminated with a microscopic organism (virus, bacteria, or fungus) or toxins released by these organisms; can be caused by improper storage temperatures or inadequate cooking temperatures. Symptoms typically include vomiting and diarrhea.

Globalization - Ease of access to travel and transportation of food products. Increases exposure to communicable diseases and foodborne illness and adds to challenges in tracking the origin of disease of foodborne illness

Health Information technology (health IT) - Broad concept that encompasses an array of technologies to record, store, retrieve, protect, share, and analyze health information

Health behaviors - Actions of individuals that can promote health such as eating a healthy diet and participating in regular physical activity. Also, actions that can increase the risk for disease - for example, eating a less healthy diet, having infrequent physical activity, smoking, excessive use of alcohol or drugs, and risky sexual behavior

Health disparities - Differences in health outcomes (infant mortality or longevity) because of differences in race, ethnicity, immigration status, income, education, or employment.

Health equity - When everyone has the same opportunity to be as healthy as possible because the obstacles (income, employment, education, gender expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, immigration status, age) that prevent discrimination and lack of healthcare access are addressed

Health outcomes - Health status of an individual or community as a result of preventive public health programs or medical intervention

Human Genome Project - An international research project that sequenced and mapped all human genes and allows prediction of illness and adverse drug response

Hygiene - Personal behaviors that prevent transmission of infectious disease by removing microorganisms that can cause infectious disease of the skin, respiratory tract, or gastrointestinal tract. For example, frequent hand washing and bathing with soap and water

Immunizations - Public health measures to immunize by vaccination to prevent the spread of infectious diseases within a population. For example, the flu vaccine in adults and measles, mumps, and hep A and B vaccines in children

Infant mortality - The number of deaths in children less than one year of age per 1,000 live births; reflects the quality of health care

Infectious disease - Illness caused by pathogenic viruses, fungi, or bacteria and transmitted by person-to-person contact of through a vector such as infected mosquito

Life expectancy - Represents the average number of years of life that could be expected if current death rates were to remain constant; used as a gauge of the overall health population

Lifestyle - Behaviors that impact the incidence and development of disease - for example, diet, physical activity, sexual activity, and the use of alcohol, illegal drugs, and cigarettes

Longevity - The length of human life; longevity usually refers to living past the estimated life expectancy or the average age of death

Low birth weight - Infants weighing less than 2,500 grams (5 lbs 8 oz) compared to the average birth weight of 8 lbs (3629 grams); more likely to occur infants born before 37 weeks with complications requiring admission to a neonatal intensive care unit

Mortality - Causes and rates of death in a population; monitoring mortality over time is used to develop policies to improve health outcomes

Medical technology - The procedures, equipment, and processes by which medical care is delivered

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - A strain of the S. aureus bacteria that is resistant to too many antibiotics. In community settings, MRSA is usually confined to the skin; in medical facilities, MRSA causes life threatening bloodstream and surgical site infections and pneumonia

National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Agency of the HHS that conducts research to discover causes and treatments for diseases

Opioid use disorder - A mental illness and brain disorder caused by an addiction to drugs used to relieve pain such as morphine of synthetic opioids

Pandemic - When an infectious disease affects large numbers of people and spreads around the world. The COVID-19 virus increased in numbers in China (epidemic) but when the virus and illness caused by the virus spread around the world causing many deaths, the outbreak was considered a pandemic

Personal protective equipment (PPE) - Refers to wearing face masks, gowns, and gloves in a healthcare setting to prevent the transmission of infectious disease

Preterm birth - Birth that occurs before 37 weeks’ gestation; can be caused by lack of prenatal care, underlying disease in the mother or multiple births. Preterm infants often need additional support, including care in a neonatal intensive nursery because of immature organ systems

Sepsis - An inflammatory response to a serious and wide-spread infection; the response causes damage to organ systems and can cause shock and death

Social and economic factors - Lack of access to stable housing, nutritious food, employment, education, personal safety, and or family support

Social determinants of health (SODH) - The conditions under which people are born, live, work, and age. Lack of access to stable housing, nutritious food, employment, education, reliable transportation, and personal safety influences access to quality health care

Spanish flu (1918 flu) - Pandemic caused by a deadly H1N1 influenza A virus that lasted two years, spread worldwide, and caused many deaths

Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS) - Sudden unexplained death in an infant younger than one year of age, usually between 1 and 4 months

Telehealth - Healthcare appointments delivered by the clinician through telecommunication technologies. Also, communicating appointment reminders, visit summaries, and laboratory and diagnostic results through an electronic record

Value-based care - Paying providers of health care based on the quality of care instead of the volume or number of patients treated or the number of treatment procedures

Viral gastroenteritis - Infection of the digestive tract caused by a virus transmitted between individuals. The most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in humans is the norovirus with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea

Universal vaccination - Public health program to prevent communicable diseases through vaccination programs of children, adolescents, and adults. Immunization programs for children have eliminated most childhood infectious diseases such as measles, mumps, meningitis, hep A and B, and polio. Adult immunizations prevent bacterial pneumonia, shingles, and influenza

World Health Organization - Agency of the UN that directs and coordinated international health within the UN’s system

Zoonotic diseases - The spread of harmful microorganisms (virus, bacteria, parasites, fungi) between animals and people. An example is avian flu that is spread between birds or poultry and humans