infectious disease

noun

: a disease (such as influenza, malaria, meningitis, rabies, or tetanus) caused by the entrance into the body of pathogenic agents or microorganisms (such as bacteria, viruses, protozoans, or fungi) which grow and multiply there compare communicable disease, contagious disease

Examples of infectious disease in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s why your health care provider will likely swab the inside of your nose to check for signs of the virus (and rule out something else, such as the flu), infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells SELF. —Korin Miller, SELF, 23 Oct. 2024

The bottom line: Elevating Kennedy to a position of power could ultimately lead to more vaccine hesitancy, more infectious disease, less trust in public health institutions and generalized distrust of the health care system. —Caitlin Owens, Axios, 3 Nov. 2024

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, according to the CDC. —Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 14 Oct. 2024

But reassortment alone cannot create a virus capable of launching a human pandemic, says Richard Webby, an infectious disease researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. —Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1600, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

infectious disease

noun

: a disease caused by the presence, growth, and increase in numbers of germs in the body

Medical Definition

infectious disease

noun

: a disease (as influenza, malaria, meningitis, rabies, or tetanus) caused by the entrance into the body of pathogenic agents or microorganisms (as bacteria, viruses, protozoans, or fungi) which grow and multiply there compare communicable disease, contagious disease