What is the term for preventing the initial development of disease?
primary prevention
What is the term for early detection of existing disease to reduce severity (potential to return to health)?
secondary prevention
What is the term for reducing the impact of the disease?
tertiary prevention
What mode of disease transmission at the person level is based on physical contact?
direct transmission
What mode of disease transmission at the person level is based on being transmitted through an intermediate source?
indirect transmission
What is the term for an agent (microorganism, person, or animal) that carries and transmits a pathogen (often insect)?
vector
What is the term for an inanimate object that transmits a pathogen (e.g. food-borne outbreak or airborne transmission)?
vehicle
What is the term for disease transmission person-to-person by either direct or indirect transmission?
horizontal transmission
What is the term for disease transmission from parent to offspring?
vertical transmission
What is the term for the fact that widespread immunity reduces the transmission of the disease among the few who are not immune above and beyond what might be expected otherwise?
herd immunity
What is the term for the habitual presence (i.e. expected amount) of disease within a geographic area - in other words, the usual occurrence of disease in a given area?
endemic
What is the term for the occurrence of illness in a population clearly in excess of normal expectancy?
epidemic
What is the term for a worldwide epidemic?
pandemic
What is the less formal term for when there are more cases than normal but not yet enough to classify as a formal epidemic?
outbreak
What is the term for a part in relation to a whole (can be a percentage)?
proportion
What is the term for a quantity related to some measure of time?
rate
What is the term for the frequency of disease at a given point in time?
prevalence
What is the term for the frequency of disease that develops over a period of time?
incidence
What is the term for the incidence of deaths due to specific disease among general population per year?
mortality rate
What is the term for the incidence of death among those who have the specific disease?
case fatality
What is the term for what is traditionally the cause/risk factor that either increase or reduces the occurrence of a particular health outcome?
exposure
What is the term for what is traditionally the occurrence of disease, death, injury, disability, or other pathophysiologic change under study?