The multiplication of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, the invasion of the body and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agents and the toxins they produce results in infection.
An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable disease, is an illness resulting from such an infection.
Infections are caused by various infectious agents – Viruses, Bacteria, and Fungi.
Hosts can fight infections through the host’s inherent immune system. Mammalian hosts immunologically fight against infections with an innate response, often with inflammation, followed by an adaptive response.
Specific allopathic medications to treat infections and their toxins include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, antiprotozoals, and antihelminthics.
An infection may be may not present symptoms and be subclinical or symptomatic and clinically apparent.
Infections are described using different terms.
Acute infection develops symptoms rapidly and can prolong. Chronic infection happens when symptoms develop gradually, over a prolonged period and are slow to resolve.
In Subacute infection, symptoms take a longer period to develop than in an acute infection but appear quicker than in a chronic infection. Latent infection is a type of infection that may occur after an acute episode; the organism is present but symptoms are not; later the disease can reappear.
A focal infection is defined as the initial site of infection from which organisms propagate via the bloodstream to various regions of the host’s body.