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Disease - A named illness or sickness, with specific
symptoms. Disease may result from poor diet or from infection
(see Infectious disease below)
Symptoms - The outward signs of a disease; for example
a fever, or coughing or a feeling of muscle weakness
Syndrome - A concurrence of several symptoms or signs
in a disease which are characteristic of it, but do not in
themselves constitute a disease.
Micro-organism (also called microbe) - Living organisms
so small that they cannot be seen. Examples include bacteria,
fungi, algae and protozoa. The size of a bacteria can be 10
micro-metres (0.000 01 m) or smaller. Like all other organisms,
they feed, grow and reproduce.
Virus - An infectious agent which is much smaller
than a single cell, about 50 nano-metres (0.000 000 05 m).
It is of very simple composition that can multiply only in
living cells of animals, plants, or bacteria. Responsible
for many diseases, including flu and the common cold.
Infectious disease - Usually a disease caused by a
microbe or virus, which can be passed from one host to another
through food, drinking water or faeces.
Contagious disease - A type of infectious disease
that is transmitted by direct contact (e.g. touch, respiratory
droplets over a short distance).
Host (carrier) - A human (or plant or animal) in which
a microbe or virus is active.
Incubation period - The time during which the population
of disease-causing microbes or virus is increasing inside
its host and before the host experiences symptoms of the disease.
The host can infect others during this time.
Immune - Protected against disease by being able to
fight the invading microbe or virus biologically.
Vaccination - A method of artificially inducing immunity,
by injecting (or ingesting) a vaccine (e.g. weakened strains:
dead micro-organisms and extracts of micro-organisms) that
triggers production of antibodies, without making the individual
seriously ill.
Epidemic - When the number of people hosting the microbe
or virus and experiencing disease symptoms rises, making everyone
in a population at risk of infection
Quarantine - Keeping a host isolated so that the spreading
of the disease can be prevented
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