Introduction to some Useful Terms ::
These are several special terms with reference to infection Few of them are explained as under ::
Contacts :: These are the persons who have been in contact with the infected patient They harbour germs but may or may not suffer from the disease
Carriers :: These are silently dangerous persons that harbour germs of a disease and discharge them at intervals thus affecting adversely other healthy people They carry germs and so they are known as carriers They may infect others but they themselves remain unaffected
A carrier may be convalescent Carrier i.e. he is a patient recovering from an infectious illness discharging the germs and thus affecting others that are in contact with the patient if this is for a short time he is called a temporary convalescent carrier e.g. an influenza patient But if he has a chronic disease he
keeps on discharging germs for months or years he is then called a chromic convalescent carrier e.g. a tuberculous patient
Host and Parasite :: If an organism lives and multiplies at the cost of another then the latter is known as the host and the former that is the invader is called the parasite
Vectors :: Some of the diseases spread through other animals e.g. malaria through mosquitoes These intermediate hosts are called vears Vectors can be subclassified as :: (1) Biological vectors and (2) Mechanical vectors Biological vectors include those vectors which are necessary for the lifecycle of the causative organism e.g. half life -cycle of plasmodium takes place in female anopheles mosquitos In the absence of the mosquitos plasmodia cannot survive Mechanical vectors mechanically transfer the disease causing organism from one place to other e.g. flies pick up the cholera bacteria from dirty places to our food and water and thus spread cholera
Fomites :: Any matter or article that is sufficiently near to get contaminated with microbes by the infected patient e.g. Floor bed handkerchief plates etc is named as fomite
Incubation :: After the entry of the microbes it takes hours days or weeks before the symptoms of the disease appear The latent time that elapsed between the entry of microbes to the appearance of symptoms is called the incubation period
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