Glossary (H-O)
Host - a person or other living animal, including birds and arthropods, that affords subsistence or lodgment to an infectious agent under natural (as opposed to experimental) conditions
Incubation period - the time interval between initial contact with an infectious agent and the first appearance of symptoms associated with the infection
Index case (index patient) - the first person in an outbreak known to be infected; also known as the primary case
Infectious - defines the amount of a pathogen that someone must be exposed to for the person to become ill
Isolation - As applied to patients, isolation represents separation, for the period of communicability, of infected persons or animals from others in such places and under such conditions as to prevent or limit the direct or indirect transmission of the infectious agent from those infected to those who are susceptible to infection or who may spread the agent to others
Outbreak - synonymous with epidemic; it is often used to avoid the sensationalism and panic that are associated with the work epidemic
Incubation period - the time interval between initial contact with an infectious agent and the first appearance of symptoms associated with the infection
Index case (index patient) - the first person in an outbreak known to be infected; also known as the primary case
Infectious - defines the amount of a pathogen that someone must be exposed to for the person to become ill
Isolation - As applied to patients, isolation represents separation, for the period of communicability, of infected persons or animals from others in such places and under such conditions as to prevent or limit the direct or indirect transmission of the infectious agent from those infected to those who are susceptible to infection or who may spread the agent to others
Outbreak - synonymous with epidemic; it is often used to avoid the sensationalism and panic that are associated with the work epidemic