Infectious disease
hideAn infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions. These pathogens are able to cause disease in animals and/or plants. Infectious pathologies are usually qualified as contagious diseases (also called communicable diseases) due to their potential of transmission from one person or species to another. Transmission of an infectious disease may occur through one or more of diverse pathways including physical contact with infected individuals. These infecting agents may also be transmitted through liquids, food, body fluids, contaminated objects, airborne inhalation, or through vector-borne spread.
The term infectivity describes the ability of an organism to enter, survive and multiply in the host, while the infectiousness of a disease indicates the comparative ease with which the disease is transmitted to other hosts. An infection however, is not synonymous with an infectious disease, as an infection may not cause important clinical symptoms or impair host function.
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News tagged with infectious diseases
Think again about keeping little ones so squeaky clean
Dec 08, 2009 |
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A new Northwestern University study suggests that American parents should ease up on antibacterial soap and perhaps allow their little ones a romp or two in the mud --- or at least a much better acquaintance with everyday ...
Chicken pox vaccine reduces shingles risk in kids -- study of 172,000 kids used EHRs
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Herpes zoster, also known as shingles, is very rare among children who have been vaccinated against chicken pox, according to a Kaiser Permanente study in the December issue of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal.
West Nile virus infection may persist in kidneys years after initial infection
Dec 07, 2009 |
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A new study shows that people who have been infected with West Nile virus may have persistent virus in their kidneys for years after initial infection, potentially leading to kidney problems. The research, which appears in ...
New York autopsies show 2009 H1N1 influenza virus damages entire airway
Dec 07, 2009 |
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In fatal cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza, the virus can damage cells throughout the respiratory airway, much like the viruses that caused the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics, report researchers from the National Institutes ...
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Mechanism discovered by which body's cells encourage tuberculosis infection
13 hours ago |
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Scientists have discovered a signaling pathway that tuberculosis bacteria use to coerce disease-fighting cells to switch allegiance and work on their behalf. Epithelial cells line the airways and other surfaces ...
One Can Act Without Group Support; Even in the Bacterial World
Dec 08, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A single bacterium can act alone, performing the same kinds of actions that a group normally does. The behavior of that bacterium can be manipulated at the cellular level. That’s the intriguing ...
Severity of H1N1 flu in US during current flu season may be less than feared
Dec 08, 2009 |
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A new study from researchers at the UK Medical Research Council and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) projects that the severity of the H1N1 flu during the autumn-winter flu season in the U.S. will likely be less ...
Self-destructing bacteria improve renewable biofuel production
Dec 08, 2009 |
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An Arizona State University research team has developed a process that removes a key obstacle to producing lower-cost, renewable biofuels. The team has programmed a photosynthetic microbe to self-destruct, making the recovery ...
Keeping Mars Contained
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 04, 2009 |
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When robotic spacecraft bring a sample of Mars back to Earth, scientists will need specially-designed facilities to study the samples and prevent them from escaping to the outside world.
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