infectious disease

/ɪnˌfɛkʃəs dəˌziz/

Other forms: infectious diseases

Definitions of infectious disease

1. noun

   a disease transmitted only by a specific kind of contact
   types:

   AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome

   a serious (often fatal) disease of the immune system transmitted through blood products especially by sexual contact or contaminated needles

   Gibraltar fever, Malta fever, Mediterranean fever, Rock fever, brucellosis, undulant fever

   infectious bacterial disease of human beings transmitted by contact with infected animals or infected meat or milk products; characterized by fever and headache

   Asiatic cholera, Indian cholera, cholera, epidemic cholera

   an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated water or food

   breakbone fever, dandy fever, dengue, dengue fever

   an infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterized by rash and aching head and joints

   dysentery

   an infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea

   epidemic disease

   any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people

   hepatitis

   inflammation of the liver caused by a virus or a toxin

   herpes

   viral diseases causing eruptions of the skin or mucous membrane

   glandular fever, infectious mononucleosis, kissing disease, mono, mononucleosis

   an acute disease characterized by fever and swollen lymph nodes and an abnormal increase of mononuclear leucocytes or monocytes in the bloodstream; not highly contagious; some believe it can be transmitted by kissing

   Hansen's disease, leprosy

   chronic granulomatous communicable disease occurring in tropical and subtropical regions; characterized by inflamed nodules beneath the skin and wasting of body parts; caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae

   listeria meningitis, listeriosis

   an infectious disease of animals and humans (especially newborn or immunosuppressed persons) caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes; in sheep and cattle the infection frequently involves the central nervous system and causes various neurological symptoms

   meningitis

   infectious disease characterized by inflammation of the meninges (the tissues that surround the brain or spinal cord) usually caused by a bacterial infection; symptoms include headache and stiff neck and fever and nausea

   epidemic parotitis, mumps

   an acute contagious viral disease characterized by fever and by swelling of the parotid glands

   paratyphoid, paratyphoid fever

   any of a variety of infectious intestinal diseases resembling typhoid fever

   acute anterior poliomyelitis, infantile paralysis, polio, poliomyelitis

   an acute viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells of the brain stem and spinal cord

   ratbite fever

   either of two infectious diseases transmitted to humans by the bite of a rat or mouse; characterized by fever and headache and nausea and skin eruptions

   rickettsial disease, rickettsiosis

   infectious disease caused by ticks or mites or body lice infected with rickettsial bacteria

   recurrent fever, relapsing fever

   marked by recurring high fever and transmitted by the bite of infected lice or ticks; characterized by episodes of high fever and chills and headache and muscle pain and nausea that recur every week or ten days for several months

   rheumatic fever

   a severe disease chiefly of children and characterized by painful inflammation of the joints and frequently damage to the heart valves

   miliary fever, sweating sickness

   epidemic in the 15th and 16th centuries and characterized by profuse sweating and high mortality

   T.B., TB, tuberculosis

   infection transmitted by inhalation or ingestion of tubercle bacilli and manifested in fever and small lesions (usually in the lungs but in various other parts of the body in acute stages)

   enteric fever, typhoid, typhoid fever

   serious infection marked by intestinal inflammation and ulceration; caused by Salmonella typhosa ingested with food or water

   pertussis, whooping cough

   a disease of the respiratory mucous membrane

   frambesia, framboesia, yaws

   an infectious tropical disease resembling syphilis in its early stages; marked by red skin eruptions and ulcerating lesions

   black vomit, yellow fever, yellow jack

   caused by a flavivirus transmitted by a mosquito

   pest, pestilence, plague

   any epidemic disease with a high death rate

   choriomeningitis

   a cerebral meningitis with cellular infiltration of the meninges

   viral hepatitis

   hepatitis caused by a virus

   delta hepatitis, hepatitis delta

   a severe form of hepatitis

   herpes simplex

   an infection caused by the herpes simplex virus; affects the skin and nervous system; produces small temporary (but sometimes painful) blisters on the skin and mucous membranes

   herpes zoster, shingles, zoster

   eruptions along a nerve path often accompanied by severe neuralgia

   tuberculoid leprosy

   leprosy characterized by tumors in the skin and cutaneous nerves

   lepromatous leprosy

   a very serious form of leprosy characterized by lesions that spread over much of the body and affecting many systems of the body

   brain fever, cerebrospinal fever, cerebrospinal meningitis, epidemic meningitis

   meningitis caused by bacteria and often fatal

   pest, pestilence, pestis, plague

   a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal

   Pott's disease

   TB of the spine with destruction of vertebrae resulting in curvature of the spine

   typhus, typhus fever

   rickettsial disease transmitted by body lice and characterized by skin rash and high fever

   spotted fever

   any of several severe febrile diseases characterized by skin rashes or spots on the skin

   Q fever

   an acute disease resembling influenza

   rickettsialpox

   mild infectious rickettsial disease caused by a bacterium of the genus Rickettsia transmitted to humans by the bite a mite that lives on rodents; characterized by chills and fever and headache and skin lesions that resemble chickenpox

   trench fever

   marked by pain in muscles and joints and transmitted by lice

   scrub typhus, tsutsugamushi disease

   transmitted by larval mites and widespread in Asia

   miliary tuberculosis

   acute tuberculosis characterized by the appearance of tiny tubercles on one or more organs of the body (presumably resulting from tubercle bacilli being spread in the bloodstream)

   consumption, phthisis, pulmonary tuberculosis, wasting disease, white plague

   a disease involving the lungs with progressive wasting of the body

   king's evil, scrofula, struma

   a form of tuberculosis characterized by swellings of the lymphatic glands

   amebic dysentery, amoebic dysentery

   inflammation of the intestines caused by Endamoeba histolytica; usually acquired by ingesting food or water contaminated with feces; characterized by severe diarrhea

   bacillary dysentery, shigellosis

   an acute infection of the intestine by shigella bacteria; characterized by diarrhea and fever and abdominal pains

   Haverhill fever

   the form of ratbite fever occurring in the United States

   lupus vulgaris

   tuberculosis of the skin; appears first on the face and heals slowly leaving deep scars

   Bornholm disease, diaphragmatic pleurisy, epidemic myalgia, epidemic pleurodynia, myosis

   an acute infectious disease occurring in epidemic form and featuring paroxysms of pain (usually in the chest)

   cerebromeningitis, encephalomeningitis, meningoencephalitis

   inflammation of the brain and spinal cord and their meninges

   leptomeningitis

   inflammation of the leptomeninges

   sodoku, spirillum fever

   the form of ratbite fever occurring in the Far East

   type of:

   communicable disease

   a disease that can be communicated from one person to another