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Pathogen vs Microorganisms - What's the difference?

pathogen | microorganisms |

As nouns the difference between pathogen and microorganisms

is that pathogen is any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease while microorganisms is plural of microorganism.

pathogen

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (pathology, immunology) Any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-01
  • , author=Katie L. Burke , title=Ecological Dependency , volume=101, issue=1, page=64 , magazine= citation , passage=In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature , David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.}}

    Derived terms

    * pathogenic * pathogenesis * pathogenous * pathogeny

    Anagrams

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