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Superglossary - Health Category: Health and Medicine > Disease Date & country: 18/12/2013, USA Words: 309

No Public Health Hazard
A category used in ATSDR's public health assessment documents for sites where people have never and

Outbreak
The appearance of several cases of a disease in an area previously experiencing no, or very few, cas

Pandemic
A worldwide epidemic affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the global population.

Pathogen
A biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host.

Peptidoglycan
Peptidoglycan is a polymer consisting of sugars and amino acids that forms a mesh-like layer outsid

Phylogeny
The evolutionary history of a taxonomic group.

Pica
A craving to eat nonfood items, such as dirt, paint chips, and clay. Some children exhibit pica-rela

Plague Of Justinian
(541-542) The Plague of Justinian was a pandemic that afflicted the Byzantine Empire, including its

Plasmid
DNA separate from the chromosomal DNA and capable of independent replication. Found naturally in man

Plasmodium Falciparum
The main causative agent of malaria in man. Although other Plasmodium species can cause the disease

Pleurisy
Inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the chest cavity. Symptoms are chills, fever, dry cough, a

Plume
A volume of a substance that moves from its source to places farther away from the source. Plumes ca

Pneumonic Plague
A generally fatal form of bubonic plague in which the infecting organisms infect the lungs. In contr

Point Of Exposure
The place where someone can come into contact with a substance present in the environment [see expos

Point Source Epidemic
A point source epidemic occurs when a group of people is exposed to a single common source of infect

Polio
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease of hu

Population
A group or number of people living within a specified area or sharing similar characteristics (such

Potentially Responsible Party (PRP)
A company, government, or person legally responsible for cleaning up the pollution at a hazardous wa

Prevalence
The number of instances of a given disease or other condition in a given population at a designated

Prevalence Survey
The measure of the current level of disease(s) or symptoms and exposures through a questionnaire tha

Prevention
Actions that reduce exposure or other risks, keep people from getting sick, or keep disease from get

Prokarytote
An organism lacking a true nucleus, such as a bacteria (cf eukaryote)

Propagated Epidemic
A propagated epidemic occurs when an infection is spread from person to person (either directly or v

Protozoa
Single-celled eukaryotic organisms

Public Availability Session
An informal, drop-by meeting at which community members can meet one-on-one with ATSDR staff members

Public Comment Period
An opportunity for the public to comment on agency findings or proposed activities contained in draf

Public Health Advisory
A statement made by ATSDR to EPA or a state regulatory agency that a release of hazardous substances

Public Health Assessment (PHA)
An ATSDR document that examines hazardous substances, health outcomes, and community concerns at a h

Public Health Hazard
A category used in ATSDR's public health assessments for sites that pose a public health hazard beca

Public Health Hazard Categories
Public health hazard categories are statements about whether people could be harmed by conditions pr

Public Health Statement
The first chapter of an ATSDR toxicological profile. The public health statement is a summary writte

Public Health Surveillance
The ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data. This activity also

Public Meeting
A public forum with community members for communication about a site.

Quinsy
An acute inflammation of the tonsils, often leading to an abscess

Radioisotope
An unstable or radioactive isotope (form) of an element that can change into another element by givi

Radionuclide
Any radioactive isotope (form) of any element.

Reassortment
A mixing of the genetic material of two similar viruses that are infecting the same cell.

Receptor Population
People who could come into contact with hazardous substances [see exposure pathway].

Recovered Or Removed Category
Individuals in the SIR model who were infected by the disease but are no longer infectious by virtue

Reference Dose (Rfd)
An EPA estimate, with uncertainty or safety factors built in, of the daily lifetime dose of a substa

Registry
A systematic collection of information on persons exposed to a specific substance or having specific

Relative Risk
Relative risk is a ratio of the probability of the event occurring in the exposed group versus non-e

Remedial Investigation
The CERCLA process of determining the type and extent of hazardous material contamination at a site.

Reservoir
(or Natural Reservoir)The long-term host of the pathogen of an infectious disease. The long term hos

Residual Spraying
The application of small amounts of insecticide to the interior walls of houses to kill and repel ma

Retrovirus
A type of RNA virus (such as HIV ) that reproduces by transcribing itself into DNA (using reverse tr

Reverse Transcriptase
An enzyme that is unique to all retroviruses. It reads the genetic information of the retrovirus, wh

RFA
RCRA Facility Assessment. An assessment required by RCRA to identify potential and actual releases o

Risk
The probability that something will cause injury or harm.

Risk Communication
The exchange of information to increase understanding of health risks.

Risk Reduction
Actions that can decrease the likelihood that individuals, groups, or communities will experience di

RNA Virus
A virus that has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material and does not replicate using a DNA i

Route Of Exposure
The way people come into contact with a hazardous substance. Three routes of exposure are breathing

Rubella
(German measles) A mild viral diseaseof humans transmitted via the respiratory route. Although child

Sample
A portion or piece of a whole. A selected subset of a population or subset of whatever is being stud

Sample Size
The number of units chosen from a population or an environment.

Scrofula
Primary tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands, especially those in the neck. A disease of children an

Septic
Infected, a condition of local or generalized invasion of the body by disease-causing germs.

Septicimic Plague
A generally fatal form of bubonic plague in which infecting organisms invade the bloodstream.

Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV)
A virus that is found, in numerous strains, in primates.

SIR Model
A simple model of disease dynamics that tracks the population as it enters and leaves three categori

Solvent
A liquid capable of dissolving or dispersing another substance (for example, acetone or mineral spir

Source Of Contamination
The place where a hazardous substance comes from, such as a landfill, waste pond, incinerator, stora

Special Populations
People who might be more sensitive or susceptible to exposure to hazardous substances because of fac

Species Richness
The number of species present within a community.

Spill-Back
The transmission of infectious agents from wildlife populations back to domestic population.

Spill-Over
The transmission of infectious agents from reservoir domestic populations to wildlife populations.

Sporozoite
A stage in the life cycle of the Plasmodium parasite, causative agent of malaria. Found in the sali

Stakeholder
A person, group, or community who has an interest in activities at a hazardous waste site.

Staphylococcus Aureus
A spherical bacterium, frequently living on the skin or in the nose of a person, and the most common

Statistics
A branch of mathematics that deals with collecting, reviewing, summarizing, and interpreting data or

Substance-Specific Applied Research
A program of research designed to fill important data needs for specific hazardous substances identi

Superspreader
Individuals who are responsible for a high proportion of the infections within a population.

Surface Water
Water on the surface of the earth, such as in lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and springs [compare wi

Survey
A systematic collection of information or data. A survey can be conducted to collect information fro

Susceptible Category
Individuals in the SIR model who are uninfected by the disease and are capable of becoming infected.

Synergistic Effect
A biologic response to multiple substances where one substance worsens the effect of another substan

Teething
The entire process which results in the eruption of the teeth. Nineteenth-century medical reports st

Teratogen
A substance that causes defects in development between conception and birth. A teratogen is a substa

Tetanus
An infectious, often-fatal disease caused by a specific bacterium that enters the body through wound

Third Cholera Pandemic
(1852-1860) Included outbreaks in London. The Broad Street outbreak investigated by John Snow was pa

Thrush
A disease characterized by whitish spots and ulcers on the membranes of the mouth, tongue, and fauce

Toxic Agent
Chemical or physical (for example, radiation, heat, cold, microwaves) agents that, under certain cir

Toxicological Profile
An ATSDR document that examines, summarizes, and interprets information about a hazardous substance

Toxicology
The study of the harmful effects of substances on humans or animals.

Transduction
The process by which bacterial DNA is moved from one bacterium to another by a virus.

Transformation
The genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the uptake and expression of foreign genetic materia

Trismus Nascentium Or Neonatorum
A form of tetanus seen only in infants, almost invariably in the first five days of life.

Tuberculosis
A chronic infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans.

Tumor
An abnormal mass of tissue that results from excessive cell division that is uncontrolled and progre

Typhoid Fever
An infectious, often-fatal disease, usually occurring in the summer months--characterized by intesti

Typhus
An acute, infectious disease transmitted by lice and fleas. The epidemic or classic form is louse bo

Uncertainty Factor
Mathematical adjustments for reasons of safety when knowledge is incomplete. For example, factors us

Urgent Public Health Hazard
A category used in ATSDR's public health assessments for sites where short-term exposures (less than

Vaccination
Administering weakened or dead pathogens to a healthy person or animal, with the intent of conferrin

Vaccine
A preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organi

Vancomycin
An antibiotic used in the treatment of infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. It has tradition

Vector
A living organism that transmits the infectious agent eg. Ticks, fleas and mosquitoes.

Vertical Transmission
Transmission of an infection, such as HIV, from mother to child during the perinatal period, the per

Vibrio Cholera
The bacterial causative agent of cholera in humans.