Stages of Disease: Incubation Period

Time between infection and onset of signs and/or symptoms

Factors affecting the incubation period:

Virulence of the pathogen
Infective dose
Health of the patient's immune system
Generation time of the pathogen
Site of infection
Therefore, incubation periods differ depending on the pathogen involved

Stages of Infectious Disease:Prodromal Period

Short time of generalized, mild symptoms preceding illness
Symptoms often include malaise and muscle aches
Not all infectious diseases have a prodromal period

Stages of Infectious Disease:Illness

Most severe stage of an infectious disease
Signs and symptoms are most evident at this time
Patient's immune system has not yet fully responded
Pathogen is harming the body and causing disease
A physician typically sees the patient during this stage

Stages of Infectious Disease:Decline

Body gradually returns to a normal state of health
Immune response and/or medical treatment begin to affect the growth and
survival of the pathogen
Signs and symptoms subside
The immune response and antibody titers normally peak during this stage of
infectious disease
If the patient does not recover, the disease may be fatal

Stages of Infectious Disease:Convalescence

This is a period of recovery
Damaged tissues and other body systems are repaired

Factors affecting the length of the convalescence period:

Amount of damage
Nature of the pathogen
Site of infection
Overall health of the patient
Depending of the disease, patients may be infectious during any stage of
disease including the convalescence period

Portal of Exits:
Pathogens must leave the body to infect other hosts
Many portals of exit are identical to portals of entry

Pathogens often leave the body in:

Secretions
Earwax, tears, nasal secretions, saliva, sputum, respiratory droplets, blood,
genital secretions, and milk
Excretions
Feces and urine

Chain of Infection: Reservoir of Infection

Most pathogens cannot survive for long outside of their host
Pathogens encounter a wide variety of stresses in the external environment
Sites were pathogens persist and go on to cause other infections are termed
reservoirs of infection

There are three major reservoirs of human infection:

Animal reservoirs
Human reservoirs
Non-living reservoirs

Animal reservoirs
Many pathogens that infect domestic or wild animals can also infect humans
Diseases that spread from animals to humans are called zoonoses or zoonotic
diseases
There are currently over 150 zoonotic disease known
The animals involved serve as a reservoir of the pathogen
Pathogens can be spread from animal to human through direct contact with
animals and their wastes, by eating meat, and by bloodsucking arthropods
Humans are often a "dead-end" host for zoonotic pathogens
However, diseases transmitted by arthropod vectors can travel from humans
to animals

zoonoses or zoonotic diseases

Diseases that spread from animals to humans are called

Human reservoirs
Other people with active infections are reservoirs of infection if the disease is a
communicable disease
Carriers can remain asymptomatic and infective for years
(e.g., syphilis and AIDS)
Some carriers go through the stages of disease while others may never develop
illness at all
These healthy carriers presumably have immune systems that protect them
from becoming sick
(e.g., typhoid Mary)

Non-living reservoirs
Soil, water, and food can all harbor pathogenic microbes
The bacteria that cause tetanus and botulism live in soil
Water can contain many types of pathogens especially if contaminated by feces
Meats, vegetables, and milk can all contain microbes able to survive in such an
environment

Pasteurization is a method that uses heat to reduce the number of

microorganisms present in liquids such as milk