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Infection vs Infective - What's the difference?

infection | infective |

As nouns the difference between infection and infective

is that infection is the act or process of infecting while infective is a person who is capable of spreading a disease by infecting others.

As an adjective infective is

able to cause infection; infectious.

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

    infective

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Able to cause infection; infectious

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (epidemiology) A person who is capable of spreading a disease by infecting others
  • * {{quote-book, 2002, Belinda Barnes & Glenn Fulford, Mathematical Modeling with Case Studies citation
    • , passage=It is evident that the greater the number of susceptibles, then the greater the increase in the number of infectives .}}

    Coordinate terms

    * immune * susceptible