Infection

Infection
Infection
	False-colored electron micrograph showing a malaria sporozoite migrating through the mosquito midgut epithelial cell
Specialty	Infectious diseases
Causes	Bacterial, viral, parasitic, fungal, prion

An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce.^[1] An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable disease, is an illness resulting from an infection.

Infections can be caused by a wide range of pathogens, most prominently bacteria and viruses.^[2] Hosts can fight infections using their immune systems. Mammalian hosts react to infections with an innate response, often involving inflammation, followed by an adaptive response.

Specific medications used to treat infections include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, antiprotozoals,^[3] and antihelminthics. Infectious diseases resulted in 9.2 million deaths in 2013 (about 17% of all deaths).^[4] The branch of medicine that focuses on infections is referred to as infectious diseases.^[5]

^ "infection", The Free Dictionary, archived from the original on 2018-07-19, retrieved 2023-11-17
^ Sehgal M, Ladd HJ, Totapally B (2020-12-01). "Trends in Epidemiology and Microbiology of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock in Children". Hospital Pediatrics. 10 (12): 1021–1030. doi:10.1542/hpeds.2020-0174. ISSN 2154-1663. PMID 33208389. S2CID 227067133. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
^ "Antiprotozoal Drugs". TheFreeDictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
^ GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators (17 December 2014). "Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study". Lancet. 385 (9963): 117–71. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61682-2. PMC 4340604. PMID 25530442.
^ "Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine". Association of American Medical Colleges. Archived from the original on 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2015-08-20. Infectious disease is the subspecialty of internal medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases of all types, in all organs, and in all ages of patients.

[1] "infection", The Free Dictionary, archived from the original on 2018-07-19, retrieved 2023-11-17

[2] Sehgal M, Ladd HJ, Totapally B (2020-12-01). "Trends in Epidemiology and Microbiology of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock in Children". Hospital Pediatrics. 10 (12): 1021–1030. doi:10.1542/hpeds.2020-0174. ISSN 2154-1663. PMID 33208389. S2CID 227067133. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-03-26.

[3] "Antiprotozoal Drugs". TheFreeDictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-04-22.

[GDB2013-4] GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators (17 December 2014). "Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study". Lancet. 385 (9963): 117–71. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61682-2. PMC 4340604. PMID 25530442.

[5] "Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine". Association of American Medical Colleges. Archived from the original on 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2015-08-20. Infectious disease is the subspecialty of internal medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases of all types, in all organs, and in all ages of patients.

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