Public Health Basics
What is efficiency?
The ability of a program or process to have successful results compared to those not participating.
What is a carrier?
An infected person that carriers, harbors or spreads an infectious disease.
What is a direct transmission?
The direct and immediate transfer from one person to another.
What is an active carrier?
An individual who has been exposed to and harbors a pathogen.
What is primary prevention?
The prevention of disease before it happens, through education, health promotion, and health protection.
What is a pathogen?
A bacteria, virus, or other disease-causing microorganisms.
What is a fomite?
An object that is capable of holding and spreading an infectious agent.
What is an indirect transmission?
Disease is spread through another means, process, or hosts, such as dust particles or water.
What is a passive carrier?
An individual that harbors a pathogen but has no symptoms or illness.
What is active primary prevention?
Prevention that requires behavioral change by the individual.
What is an epidemic?
An excess amount of cases of an illness or other health-related event affecting a specific area/community.
What is a vector?
An invertebrate animal that spreads infection from one host to another.
What is airborn transmission?
The host gets an infection from droplets or dust particles that carry the pathogen.
What is a convalescent carrier?
An individual who harbors a pathogen and is experiencing the final stages, while still being capable of spreading it.
What is passive primary prevention?
This is prevention that does not require habit changes by the individual.
What is a pandemic?
An epidemic that is active in an excessive region, such as a country or continent.
What is a reservoir?
The living or nonliving habitat where infectious agents live and depend on for survival.
What is a mechanical transmission?
A pathogen spreads by using a host for transportation and nourishment.
What is an incubatory carrier?
An individual who contains the pathogen at the beginning of its illness. They are showing symptoms and can spread the disease.
This prevention involves screening and detection to identify disease.
What is an endemic?
Occurs when a disease or illness is constant and ongoing within a community or region.
What is zoonosis?
An infectious organism in vertebrate animals that can spread to humans.
What is biological transmission?
A pathogen undergoes changes in its life cycle while within a host, before spreading to another.
What is an intermittent carrier?
An individual who has been exposed to and harbors a pathogen that they can spread in different places or at different intervals.
What is tertiary prevention?
This prevention focuses on aftercare of a disease or disability through rehabilitation.