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Infection vs Contagion - What's the difference?

infection | contagion |

As nouns the difference between infection and contagion

is that infection is (pathology) the act or process of infecting while contagion is a disease spread by contact.

infection

English

(wikipedia infection)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (pathology) The act or process of infecting.
  • An uncontrolled growth of harmful microorganisms in a host.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
    • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic

    Related terms

    * infect * infected * infectable

    Derived terms

    * spurious infection

    contagion

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A disease spread by contact
  • The spread or transmission of such a disease
  • The spread of anything harmful, as if it were such a disease
  • (finance) A situation in which small shocks, which initially affect only a few financial institutions or a particular region of an economy, spread to the rest of financial sectors and other countries whose economies were previously healthy.
  • * 2011 , , Project Syndicate, Germany Must Defend the Euro :
    • And it was German procrastination that aggravated the Greek crisis and caused the contagion that turned it into an existential crisis for Europe.
  • (finance) A resulting recession or crisis developed in such manner.

    • Derived terms

    * anticontagion * contagionism * contagionist

    See also

    * quarantine * (Contagious disease) ----