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Who among us has not been confronted, during a medical examination or during a scientific reading, with terms to which it is difficult to give a simple meaning.
This article is intended to be a simple introduction to the understanding of these words or expressions symbolizing a concept "created" by scientists but focused only on those used in the subject of Infectious diseases.
List of medical terms
In parentheses, the terms used in English (language of the majority of scientific journals).
| Alphabetical index: | High - TOBVSDEFGHIJKTHEMNOTOPQRSTUVWXYZ |
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TO
- Infectious agent (Pathogen Where Infectious agent) – Also called pathogen. Any biological organism or any prion likely to cause infection.
- Amoeba (Amoeba Where Amoeboid) – Term that designates any organism, most often unicellular or, sometimes, multicellular, not part of animals, fungi or plants. An amoeba can be a free organism or a parasite.
- Amoebiasis (Amoebiasis) – Also called amoebosis. Infectious disease due to an amoeba parasite.
- History (Medical history) – Interview conducted by a doctor with the patient and / or one of his relatives in order to trace the medical history and to establish the history of the complaint as well as to inquire about the current pain felt by this patient. It is the first element of a medical examination and therefore the first step in making a diagnosis.
- Analgesic (Analgesic Where Painkiller) – Also known asanalgesic, it is a medicine used in the treatment of pain.
- Yellow fever (Yellow fever) – Qualifying adjective for any treatment against the virus of yellow fever (yellow fever virus). Sometimes also written with a hyphen (“anti-amaril (e)”).
- Antibiotic (Antibiotic) – Organic chemical substance of natural or synthetic origin that kills or blocks the growth of bacteria pathogens at low concentration and possessing selective toxicity with respect to the target bacteria. Antibiotics of natural origin are made from fungi or other bacteria.
- Antibody (Antibody Where Immunoglobulin) – A protein secreted by certain cells in the body and used by the immune system to specifically detect and neutralize pathogens.
- Antigen (Antigen Where Antibody generator) – A molecule recognized by antibodies in the immune system of an organism as foreign to it will trigger an immune response in these antibodies.
- Antipyretic (Antipyretic) – Drug whose purpose is to fight against fever. Examples of antipyretics: paracetamol, ibuprofen, quinine.
- Antiseptic (Antiseptic) – Disinfectant for body use that kills or prevents the growth of bacteria, mushrooms and virus on the external surfaces of the body. There are four classes of antiseptic products, determined by their chemical structure and effectiveness: chlorhexidine, povidone iodine, sodium hypochlorite and ethanol. The different classes of antiseptics must not be mixed or combined, under penalty of inactivation, or even causing the formation of irritants.
- Astenia (Asthenia Where Weakness) – General weakness characterized by a decrease in the functioning of the organism.
- Asymptomatic (Asymptomatic) – Which does not present any symptom.
B
- Bacillus (Bacillus) – Elongated bacteria called "stick". This term is in opposition to "cocci ».
- Bactericidal (Bactericide) – This says of a substance that kills bacteria.
- Bacterium (Bacteria) – Unicellular living organism present in all environments. Some are mutualists and live in symbiosis with the organism which shelters them, others are pathogenic and infect this organism.
- Bacteriosis (Bacterial infection) – Infectious disease due to bacteria.
VS
- Shock (Circulatory shock) – Insufficient supply of oxygen-rich blood to body cells.
- Cholecystitis (Cholecystitis) – Inflammation of the bilary vesicle.
- Coagulopathy (Coagulopathy) – Failure in the mechanism of blood clotting.
- Cocci (Coccus) – Bacterium spherical in shape. This term is in opposition to "bacillus ».
- Colitis (Colitis) – Inflammation of the colon.
- Collapse (Collapse) – A drop in the pressure of a body fluid that creates the "collapse" of a hollow, soft organ such as, for example, the heart or gallbladder.
- Conjunctivitis (Conjunctivitis Where Pink eye) – Inflammation of the mucous membrane that lines the inside of the eyelids. It can be caused by bacterium, a virus or an allergy.
- Coproculture (Stool test) – Bacteriological culture of stool to detect the presence of pathogenic germs normally absent from the digestive tract or abnormally numerous.
- Cyprine (Vaginal lubrication) – Vaginal secretions.
- Cystitis (Urinary tract infection Where UTI) – Inflammation of the bladder.
D
- Dermatitis (Dermatitis Where Eczema) – Inflammatory dermatosis of the skin.
- Dermatosis (Skin disease Where Skin lesion) – Generic name designating any affection of the skin and, by extension, those of the nails and hair.
- Sickle cell anemia (Sickle-cell disease Where sickle-cell anemia) – Also called sicklemia Where sickle cell anemia. Hereditary disease characterized by alteration of thehemoglobin because of the presence of red blood cells which have an elongated or sickle shape instead of the normal shape of a biconcave disc. This disease confers some protection against the parasite of the malaria but increases the risk of viral hemorrhage in the event of dengue.
E
- Elephantiasis (Elephantiasis) – Other name of the lymphatic filariasis whose symptoms are an increase in the size of a limb or part of the body caused by edema, which is an effusion of lymph outside the lymphatic system.
- Endemic (Endemic) – usual presence of a disease in a region or for a specific population.
- Enterocolitis (Enterocolitis) – Inflammation of the small intestine or colon.
- Eosinophilia (Eosinophilia) – Extremely high white blood cell population
- Epidemic (Epidemic) – Refers to the rapid increase in the incidence of a disease in a given place over a given time without necessarily including a notion of contagiousness.
- Epistaxis (Epistaxis Where Nosebleed) – Bleeding externalized by the nasal cavities.
- Electrolyte balance (Hydro-electrolytic equilibrium) – Balance between water and mineral salts (sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium) in the blood system.
- State of shock – To see "Shock ».
- Exanthema (Exanthem Where Rash) – Or, more simply, skin rash. Most often transient skin lesions appear. It can be accompanied by an enanthema, that is to say skin lesions of the mucous membranes of the mouth and / or nose.
F
- Fever (Fever) – State ofhyperthermia generally controlled by the brain to reduce the virulence of infecting microorganisms. Do not confuse "fever" and "hyperthermia ».
G
- Gastroenteritis (Gastroenteritis) – Inflammatory infection of the digestive system.
H
- Helminthiasis (Helminthiasis Where worm infection) – Parasitic disease, caused by a parasitic intestinal worm also called "helminth".
- Haematuria (Hematuria) – Presence of abnormally high red blood cells in the urine.
- Hemiparesis (Hemiparesis) – Partial loss of motor skills on the right or left side of the body, most often in the context of a disorder of the nervous system.
- Blood culture (Blood culture) – Blood test which consists of a sample of venous blood placed in culture in order to look for microorganisms.
- Hemoglobin (Hemoglobin) – Protein ensuring the transport of dioxygen (a molecule composed of two oxygen atoms, denoted O2) in the blood.
- Hemoptysis (Hemoptysis) – Rejection, during coughing, of blood from the subglottic respiratory tract.
- Hepatitis (Hepatitis) – Acute inflammation or chronic liver.
- Hepatosplenomegaly (Hepatosplenomegaly Where HSM) – Enlargement of the liver and spleen.
- Hypereosinophilia – To see "Eosinophilia ».
- Hyperthermia (Hyperthermia) – Local or general rise in body temperature above normal. Do not confuse "hyperthermia" and "fever ».
- Hypothermia (Hypothermia) – Central body temperature no longer allowing proper performance of vital functions. She is from 35 ° C in humans.
I
- Acute inflammation (Acute inflammation) – Early phase of inflammation characterized by swelling of an organ or tissue with effusion of fluid.
J
K
- Keratitis (Keratitis) – Inflammation of the cornea of the eye often associated with conjunctivitis. It is said to be "unilateral" if it affects only one eye and "bilateral" if it affects both eyes.
THE
- Leukopenia (Leukopenia) – Decreased number of white blood cells.
- Cerebrospinal fluid (Cerebrospinal fluid) – Called cerebrospinal fluid in the old nomenclature, it is a biological fluid (body fluid) contained in the meninges and in which bathes the brain and spinal cord (spinal cord in old nomenclature).
- Lithiasis (Lithiasis) – Mineral mass called calculus in a duct of the body. Types of lithiasis: "gallstones" in the gallbladder or bile ducts, "urolithiasis" in the kidneys or ureters, "salivary lithiasis" in the excretory tract of saliva.
M
- Autoimmune disease (Autoimmune disease) – Diseases caused by overactivity of the immune system against substances or tissues that are normally present in the body. They are much more present in developed countries and affect 10 times more women than men.
- Contagious illness (Communicable disease) – Infectious disease which can be spread between contemporary subjects, of the same species or not, either directly, that is to say by the hands, sexual intercourse, blood exchanges but also by air and dust either indirectly, that is to say through media or vectors, other than air, such as faeces, water, medical instruments, etc.
- Infectious disease (Infectious disease) – Infection caused by an external agent which may be a parasite, bacteria, virus, fungus or yeast.
- Vector disease (Disease vector) – Disease caused by an external agent conveyed then inoculated or deposited by a vector. This vector is an organism which does not itself cause disease but which is necessary for the spread of infection by transporting pathogens from one host to another.
- Meteorism (Tympanitis Where Meteorism) – Abdominal bloating due to excess digestive gas.
- Microcephaly (Microcephaly) – Abnormal growth of the skull with a head diameter smaller than normal. It can be congenital or appear in the first years of life. Consumption of alcoholic beverages during pregnancy can be a cause as well as Zika virus.
- Transverse myelitis (Transverse myelitis) – Syndrome neurological showing inflammation of the spinal cord. Its cause is still poorly understood, but mainly seems autoimmune and often occurs after a virosis. The consequences can range from a more or less rapid complete recovery to serious motor sequelae such as paralysis of the four limbs.
NOT
- Normothermy – A normal body temperature, in humans, between 36.1 ° C and 37.8 ° C depending on where the temperature is taken on the body.
O
- Obnubilation (Obtundation) – Inability to focus on his surroundings.
P
- Pandemic (Pandemic) – Epidemic present over a large geographical area. The best-known example of a pandemic is the AIDS.
- Parasite (Parasite) – Any organism that benefits (by feeding, sheltering, or reproducing) at the expense of a host. Sometimes a parasite is itself parasitized.
- Parasitosis (Parasitic disease) – Infectious disease due to a parasite.
- Patient zero (Index case Where Primary case) – Term used to refer to the first person of a epidemic to have been contaminated by a pathogen.
- Convalescence phase – Period during which the restoration of the functions and morphology of the affected organs takes place. It is the last phase of a disease and follows the “defervescence phase”.
- Defervescence phase – Period during which there is a gradual decrease in the intensity of the disease and the gradual disappearance of clinical signs. It follows the "state phase" and precedes the "convalescence phase".
- Status phase – Period during which the manifestations and clinical signs specific to the disease appear. It follows the “invasion phase” and precedes the “defervescence phase”.
- Incubation phase (Incubation period) – The period between contamination and the appearance of the first symptoms of a disease. Its duration varies depending on the dose of pathogens received. It is the first phase of a disease and precedes the “invasion phase”.
- Invasion phase – Period of germ transport after multiplication and reproduction and during which the first symptoms and non-specific clinical signs of a disease appear. It follows the “incubation phase” and precedes the “status phase”.
- Plasmodium (Plasmodium) – Taxonomic genus which groups together approximately 200 species protozoa parasites. Five of them, of which the most dangerous Plasmodium falciparum, are responsible for the malaria in humans.
- Prion (Prion) – A protein that has adopted an abnormal conformation or folding. In humans, they are responsible for ESST.
- Proteinuria (Proteinuria) – Presence of protein in urine.
Q
R
S
- Sepsis (Sepsis) – syndrome general and serious infection of the body with pathogenic germs. It used to be called "sepsis".
- Serology (Serology) – Study of the blood fluid, stripped of its cells and coagulation proteins, and the variations or modifications of its properties during an illness.
- Splenomegaly (Splenomegaly) – Increase in the volume of the spleen.
- Subfebrile – qualifies a state of fever between 37.3 ° C and 38 ° C depending on where the temperature is taken.
- Symptom (Symptom) – Also called functional sign, the symptom is a clinical sign, that is to say an objective interpretation of the observation of a subject, by a "clinician", which represents a manifestation of a disease, as expressed and felt by a patient. patient.
- Syndrome (Syndrome) – All the clinical signs and symptoms that a patient is likely to present during an illness or in clinical circumstances deviating from the norm.
- Guillain-Barré syndrome (Guillain – Barré syndrome Where GBS) – Autoimmune disease inflammatory disease of the peripheral nervous system, ie outside the brain and spinal cord, responsible for most neuromuscular diseases. While it usually heals quickly without sequelae, damage to the nerve fiber may, in rare cases, lead to paralysis.
T
- Thrombocytopenia (Thrombocytopenia) – Decrease in the number of blood platelets.
U
- Urethritis (Urethritis) – Also called ureteritis. Inflammation of the outlet duct of the bladder.
- Uveitis (Uveitis) – Inflammation of the uvea, i.e. iris, ciliary body and / or choroid.
V
- Viraemia (Viremia) – Refers to the presence of viruses in the blood. She may be active when there is replication of the virus in the blood or passive if the replication is done elsewhere.
- Virion (Virion) – Complete viral particle with its outer envelope and nucleic acid molecule (type DNA Where RNA) inside. The virion is also infectious than the whole virus.
- Virosis (Viral disease) – Infectious disease due to a virus.
- Virus (Virus) – Organism requiring a host, often a cell, whose metabolism and its constituents it uses to replicate. The viruses that are best known to the public are those responsible for the flu.
W
X
Y
Z
- Shingles (Herpes zoster) – dermatitis due to the HHV-3 virus, the same as that of varicella.
Medical dictionaries
- Larousse – Larousse medical.
- Doctissimo – Medical dictionary.
