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Plague Glossary

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

This is a page to define disease related words - please add to it

  • Algae: aquatic plants that can clog ponds or streams and allow mosquito larvae to hide from fish and other predators.
  • Arbovirus: a virus whos life cycle includes transmission by arthropods.
  • Arthropod: an invertebrate animal with jointed legs and a segmented body (includes flies, mosquitoes, ticks; also centipedes, scorpions, spiders etc.)
  • Autochthonous: native to a place; not imported; used to describe a disease transmitted by vectors that became infected from a local source.
  • Endemic: a disease naturally present in certain human or animal populations.
  • Epidemic: a disease outbreak affecting certain human or animal populations.
  • Enzootic: a disease naturally present in certain animal populations (sometimes used in contrast with "endemic").
  • Epizootic: a disease outbreak affecting certain animal populations (sometimes used in contrast with epidemic).
  • Host: a living organism that serves as a blood source for blood-feeding arthropods, or on which a parasite lives.
  • Integrated Pest Management (IPM): a system for minimizing the impact of vectors and pests by using a variety of control procedures, and decreasing the chemical input to the environment.
  • Intermediate host: the arthropod carrier of a parasitic organism.
  • Microbial insecticide: an insecticide made of bacteria whose infection kills insects; a substance produced by bacteria that is lethal to insects.
  • Palpi: the jointed feelers on each side of the mouth of some arthropods.
  • Pandemic: A worldwide Epidemic.
  • Probosis: The straw-like sucking mouthparts of some blood feeding arthropods.
  • Reservoir: an animal population that normally harbors a disease-causing organism capable of being transmitted to man or other animal populations.
  • Rickettsia: a group of small bacteria that live inside tissue cells, and are carried by ticks, mites, fleas or lice.
  • Smudge pot: container used to hold a substance producing dense smoke; used to drive away insects.
  • Ultra Low Volume (ULV): a method of insecticide distribution in which a small portion of the compound is fragmented into extremely fine particles for aerial dispersal.
  • Vector: An arthropod carrier of a disease producing organism. Usually used when part of the organism's natural life cycle takes place in the arthropod (= intermediate host).
  • Vector-borne disease: A disease carried by arthropod intermediate hosts.
  • Vector control: Management of organisms that carry disease.
  • Zoonosis: A disease of animals that may be secondarily transmitted to man.