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A preparation that stimulates an immune response that can prevent an infection or create resistance to an infection.
- Browse Related Terms: antibiotic, Antimicrobial agents, Antimicrobial resistance, Aralen, Chloroquine, Cryptic malaria, DEET, Diurnal, drug resistance, Fansidar, Halofantrine, Icterus, prophylaxis, Rigor, Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, vaccine
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Linking provider payments to improved performance by health care providers. This form of payment holds health care providers accountable for both the cost and quality of care they provide. It attempts to reduce inappropriate care and to identify and reward the best-performing providers.
- Browse Related Terms: Capitation, claim, External Review, Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), Fee-for-Service, Health Care Workforce Incentive, Home Health Care, Internal review, Member Survey Results, Original Medicare, Penalty, Uncompensated Care, Value-Based Purchasing (VBP)
All > Healthcare > Medicine > Healthcare Associated Infections
Bacteria that are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract and are often found in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is used to treat some drug-resistant infections caused by enterococci. In some instances, enterococci have become resistant to this drug and thus are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Most VRE infections occur in hospitals.
Bacteria that are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract and are often found in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is used to treat some drug-resistant infections caused by enterococci. In some instances, enterococci have become resistant to this drug and thus are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Most VRE infections occur in hospitals.
- Browse Related Terms: Bacterium, Clostridium difficile, Clostridium Difficile Infection, Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease (CDI), Collaboration, Cross-infection, Extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL), Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL), infection, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Multidrug-resistant Organism (MDRO), Pathogens, Spore, Stakeholder, Symptom, Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE)
All > Healthcare > Medicine > Hantavirus
any living creature that transmits an infectious agent to humans.
- Browse Related Terms: infection, report of a disease, reservoir, Vector, Vector-borne transmission, Virus, zoonotic disease or infection
All > Healthcare > Medicine > Malaria
An organism (e.g., Anopheles mosquitoes) that transmits an infectious agent (e.g. malaria parasites) from one host to the other (e.g., humans).
- Browse Related Terms: Anopheles, Bacteria, Congenital malaria, etiology, immune system, infection, Parasite, pathogen, Resistance, Sequelae, Species, Vector, Vector competence
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The ability of a vector (e.g., Anopheles mosquitoes) to transmit a disease (e.g., malaria).
- Browse Related Terms: Anopheles, Bacteria, Congenital malaria, etiology, immune system, infection, Parasite, pathogen, Resistance, Sequelae, Species, Vector, Vector competence
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When researchers talk about vectors, often they are talking about insects, which as a group of invertebrate animals carry a host of different infectious agents. (However, a vector can be any living creature that transmits an infectious agent to humans.)
Vectors may mechanically spread the infectious agent, such as a virus or parasite. In this scenario the vector—for instance a mosquito— contaminates its feet or proboscis ("nose") with the infectious agent, or the agent passes through its gastrointestinal tract. The agent is transmitted from the vector when it bites or touches a person. In the case of an insect, the infectious agent may be injected with the insect's salivary fluid when it bites. Or the insect may regurgitate material or deposit feces on the skin, which then enter a person's body, typically through a bite wound or skin that has been broken by scratching or rubbing.
In the case of some infectious agents, vectors are only capable of transmitting the disease during a certain time period. In these situations, vectors play host to the agent. The agent needs the host to develop and mature or to reproduce (multiply) or both (called cyclopropagative). Once the agent is within the vector animal, an incubation period follows during which the agent grows or reproduces or both, depending on the type of agent. Only after this phase is over does the vector become infective. That is, only then can it transmit an agent that is capable of causing disease in the person.
- Browse Related Terms: infection, report of a disease, reservoir, Vector, Vector-borne transmission, Virus, zoonotic disease or infection
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In this situation, a vehicle—that is, an inanimate object or material called in scientific terms a "fomite", becomes contaminated with the infectious agent. The agent, such as a virus, may or may not have multiplied or developed in or on the vehicle. The vehicle contacts the person's body. It may be ingested (eaten or drunk), touch the skin, or be introduced internally during surgery or medical treatment. Examples of vehicles that can transmit diseases include cooking or eating utensils, bedding or clothing, toys, surgical or medical instruments (like catheters) or dressings. Water, food, drinks (like milk) and biological products like blood, serum, plasma, tissues or organs can also be vehicles.
- Browse Related Terms: Airborne transmission, Direct transmission, Indirect transmission, Risk, transmission of infectious agents (such as a virus), Vehicle-borne transmission
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A device that pumps air into the lungs of patients who cannot breathe well on their own.
A device that pumps air into the lungs of patients that are unable to breathe for themselves.
- Browse Related Terms: Dialysis facility, Epidemiology, Influenza, Influenza Vaccination, isolation, Maximal, Morbidity, Patient safety, Pneumonia, Transmission, Ventilator, Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP)
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Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. Pneumonia that develops after a patient is placed on a ventilator is called a ventilator-associated pneumonia.
A type of pneumonia (infection of the lungs) that develops after a patient is placed on a ventilator.
- Browse Related Terms: Dialysis facility, Epidemiology, Influenza, Influenza Vaccination, isolation, Maximal, Morbidity, Patient safety, Pneumonia, Transmission, Ventilator, Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP)
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In relation to HIV, the quantity of HIV RNA in the blood. Viral load is used as a predictor of disease progression. Viral load test results are expressed as the number of copies per milliliter of blood plasma.
- Browse Related Terms: Cultural Competence, Exposure Category, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), Risk Factor or Risk Behavior, Seroconversion, Seroprevalence, Transmission Category, Viral Load, Western Blot
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A virus is an extremely tiny infectious agent that is only able to live inside a cell. Basically, viruses are composed of just two parts. The outer part is a protective shell made of protein. This shell is often surrounded by another protective layer or envelope, made of protein or lipids (fats). The inner part is made of genetic material, either RNA or DNA. A virus does not have any other structures (called organelles) that living cells have, like a nucleus or mitochondria. These organelles are the tiny organs that maintain a cell's metabolism (life processes). A virus has no metabolism at all. Because a virus lacks organelles, it cannot reproduce by itself. To reproduce, a virus invades a cell within the body of a human or other creature, called the host. Each type of virus has particular types of host creatures and host cells that it will invade successfully. Once within the host cell, the virus uses the cell's own organelles to produce more viruses. In essence, the virus forces the cell to replicate the virus' own genetic material and protective shell. Once replicated, the new viruses leave the host cell and are ready to invade others.
- Browse Related Terms: infection, report of a disease, reservoir, Vector, Vector-borne transmission, Virus, zoonotic disease or infection
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A microorganism composed of a piece of genetic material - RNA or DNA - surrounded by a protein coat. To replicate, a virus must infect a cell and direct its cellular machinery to produce new viruses.
- Browse Related Terms: dyspnea, Epidemiology, Gene, genetic diversity, Incubation period, Molecular methods, Paroxysm, Polymorphic, strain, Tachycardia, tachypnea, Virus
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A type of health benefit that at least partially covers vision care, like eye exams and glasses. This coverage can be offered either as part of a comprehensive medical plan, or by itself through a “stand-alone” vision plan. However, stand-alone vision plans may not be offered through the Marketplaces.
- Browse Related Terms: Affordable coverage (as it relates to APTC), Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Employer Shared Responsibility Payment (ESRP), Full-Time Employee, Full-Time Equivalent, Minimum value, Multi-Employer Plan, Open Enrollment, Plan, Tax credit, Vision or Vision Coverage
All > Healthcare > Medicine > Malaria
- See Plasmodium
- Browse Related Terms: Clinical cure, Falciparum, Knowlesi, Malariae, Ovale, Plasmodium, Radical cure, Radical treatment, Relapse, Vivax