what id the difference b/w a vector and a carrier??
Asked by
| 12th Jan, 2013,
01:52: PM
Expert Answer:
A vector is an organism who passes on a disease without getting sick. A vector actively transmits an infectious agent between infected and susceptible vertebrates. Essentially, vectors can transmit infectious agents in two ways. They can serve as a vehicle whereby the infectious agent is conveyed from one host to another without undergoing a stage of development or multiplication. This is known as mechanical transmission. Alternatively, the infectious agent can undergo some stage of development or multiplication in the vector - this is known as biological transmission.
The term carrier is used to describe an individual that is infected by a disease agent and is capable of disseminating that disease agent but shows no sign of clinical disease. So the carrier has no symptoms of a disease but still passes it on to someone else. Three types of carrier state are recognised:
· The true carrier, which is an infected individual capable of disseminating the infectious agent but which never exhibits clinical signs of disease.
· The incubatory carrier, which is an infected individual capable of disseminating the infectious agent while the disease is still in the incubatory stage.
· The convalescent carrier, which is an individual that continues to disseminate the infectious agent after the clinical signs of the disease have disappeared.
· The true carrier, which is an infected individual capable of disseminating the infectious agent but which never exhibits clinical signs of disease.· The incubatory carrier, which is an infected individual capable of disseminating the infectious agent while the disease is still in the incubatory stage.
· The convalescent carrier, which is an individual that continues to disseminate the infectious agent after the clinical signs of the disease have disappeared.
Answered by
| 13th Jan, 2013,
02:14: PM
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