Infectious Disease Terms

Immunosuppression is a reduced state of immune system activity that can be caused deliberately by treatment or by underlying disease.

Rather than attacking a disease directly, these treatments change what the immune system is willing to attack, or willing to tolerate.

A drug that interferes with the ability of a virus to make copies of itself.

An inherited disorder in which there is a lower-than-normal number of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that is important in fighting infections).

Invasion and multiplication of a microorganism in or on the body.

Useful in the short term and damaging when it persists, inflammation is protective or destructive depending largely on how long it lasts.

One of three types of virus that cause the illness called influenza (flu).

Named for interfering with viruses, these proteins warn neighboring cells before infection reaches them and cause the flu-like feeling of being ill.

A drug used to treat some infections caused by viruses and several types of cancer.

Resident microbes in their trillions, doing chemical work the human body never evolved the enzymes to do for itself.

Bacteria and other organisms that live inside the intestines.

An antibiotic drug used to treat infection.

The immune system's targeted assassin, destroying one marked cell at a time while leaving its healthy neighbors untouched.

A bacterium that frequently causes lung, urinary tract, intestinal, and wound infections.

An inherited disorder in which there is a lower-than-normal number of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that is important in fighting infections).

An inherited disorder in which there is a lower-than-normal number of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that is important in fighting infections).

An inherited disorder in which there is a lower-than-normal number of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that is important in fighting infections).

Lactobacillus is a genus of bacteria that produces lactic acid and normally lives harmlessly in the human gut, mouth, and vaginal tract.

A type of white blood cell that contains granules with enzymes that can kill tumor cells or microbial cells.

The clear fluid that travels through the lymphatic system and carries cells that help fight infections and other diseases.