Infectious Disease Terms

Clear in an arm, milky after a fatty meal: how it looks depends entirely on which tissue it has just drained.

The lymphatic system is a network of vessels and organs that drains excess fluid from tissue and supports immune defense.

A substance being studied in the treatment of bacterial infections from catheters (flexible tubes used to deliver fluids into or take fluids from the body).

An antiviral taken by mouth that leaves the marrow and the kidney alone, kept for infections the older drugs no longer hold down.

The virus that causes measles (a highly contagious disease marked by fever, cough, and raised red spots on the skin).

The drug arrives inactive and becomes a poison only inside organisms that live without oxygen, which is the source of its narrow aim.

Any substance or process that kills germs (bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that can cause infection and disease).

Bacteria and other organisms that live inside the intestines.

Whether mold matters to health depends far more on the species and on the person exposed than on the presence of mold itself.

Moxifloxacin is a broad spectrum antibiotic from the fluoroquinolone class, used to treat various bacterial infections.

A drug used to treat infections caused by fungi (a type of microorganism).

Natural killer cells are innate immune cells that destroy virus infected and abnormal cells without needing prior exposure to a specific target.

Short lived by design: these cells are produced in vast numbers, survive briefly and die where they fight, which is what pus is.

An NK cell is a white blood cell of the innate immune system able to kill infected or abnormal cells on first contact.

A type of immune cell that has granules (small particles) with enzymes that can kill tumor cells or cells infected with a virus.

In biology, refers to viruses that do not kill infected cells by disrupting their plasma membranes.

An antibiotic drug used to treat infection.

A virus being studied in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors and other types of cancer.

The active ingredient in a drug used to treat infections caused by fungi (a type of microorganism).

Treatment using an oncolytic virus (a virus that infects and breaks down cancer cells but not normal cells ).