Organisms that can cause disease
Pathogen
An organism that harbours an infectious agent
Host
Something the clinician specifically looks or feels for when examining a patient
Sign
Diseases or clinical events that have a rapid, often severe onset, but of short duration
Acute
A specialist in the study of pathology
Pathologist
The successful persistence and/or multiplication of a pathogen on or within the host
Infection
Agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organisms
Vector
An indication that a disease is present and something of which the patient complains
Symptom
Diseases or clinical events that develop gradually over a relatively long time and persist
Chronic
The study the essential nature of diseases
Pathology
Any abnormality that negatively affects structure or function of an organism
Disease
Originating outside the body
Exogenous
The effects of a disease on the patient
Morbidity
The time that must elapse before a disease becomes apparent following exposure to the etiological agent
Incubation period
The study of how diseases spread in populations in relation to their causal factors
Epidemiology
Something that produces, or is capable of producing, an effect
Agent
Diseases that can be transmitted from non-human animals to humans
Zoonoses
The possibility of a disease causing death (usually expressed as a percentage)
Mortality
The time when an illness is developing but overt signs and symptoms are not apparent
Latent period
The cause of a disease
Etiology