Contagiousis “transmissible by direct or indirect contact with an infected person.”
Infectiousis “producing or capable of producing infection” and “containing pathogenic agents which may be transmitted.”
Bothinfectiousandcontagiousdiseases are caused bybacteriaandviruses;
Theydifferin thatcontagiousdiseases may be spread by direct or indirect contact.
An ailment such as food poisoning isinfectious, it is capable of producinginfection, but it isnotcontagious. Thecoronavirus, on the other hand, isbothcontagious and infectious.
Anything that iscontagiousis automatically alsoinfectious, but the reverse is not true.
Anindex caseis “the first documented case of an infectious disease or genetically transmitted condition or mutation in a population, region, or family.” It may also, however, refer to an individual who has a disease, condition, or mutation that is the first one identified in a population.
This second sense is synonymous withindex patient.
A related term ispatient zero, “a person identified as the first to become infected with an illness or disease in an outbreak.”Patient zerois especially used to refer to a person documented as being the first known case of a communicable disease in a particular population or region.
Anoutbreakis “a sudden rise in the incidence of a disease”
Anepidemicis “an outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many individuals at the same time”; Apandemicis “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population.”
Anoutbreakmay become anepidemicif it spreads enough, as anepidemicmay likewisebecome apandemic.
▶ Staff A : Excuse me there, Miss. Can I have a word? (in the airport)
▷ Martine : Yes.
▶ Staff A :Where have you been?
▷ Martine : Morocco.
▶ Staff B : I'll have to check your underwear.
▷ Martine : Be my guest.
▶ Staff A : We found what we were looking for.
▷ Martine : Found what? What were you looking for? (Calling) Oh, Tim. Thank God. I'm in a spot of bother.
▷ Martine : What have you been up to?
▶ Terry : Nothing much. You?
▷ Martine : I was in Morocco recently.
▶ Terry : Business or pleasure?
▷ Martine : Bit of both. Drinks are on me.
▶ Terry : So, we gonna sit here all night making small talk?
▷ Martine : I know you, Terry. And I know your mates. You've always been looking for the big score, the one that makes sense of everything. I have it for you.
▶ Terry : What?
▷ Martine : A bank.
▶ Terry : A bank? As in rob? How would you know about a bank?
▷ Martine : I've been seeing this guy, runs his own business--security systems. Next month, they're installing new alarms in a bank in Marylebone. Seems like the trains have been setting off the tremor alarms in the vault and they've had to turn them off, so for a week or so, they won't have any.
▶ Terry : Now, why would he tell you all this?
▷ Martine : We were having a laugh about it. "Imagine if half the villains in London knew about this," he said, and I thought, "I know half the villains in London. I grew up with some of them."
▶ Terry : Look. Me and my mates have been involved with the odd bit of skullduggery, but can you see us tooled up, taking on a bank like the James gang?
▷ Martine : This isn't about waving a water pistol at a cashier's head. This is about getting into the basement where the deposit boxes are, hidden, secret wealth--money and jewels that are safe to steal because poeple won't report it.
▶ Terry : No, no, no. We can't talk about this here.
▷ Martine : It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Terry. We can't pass it up.
▶ Terry : Didn't expect this from you tonight, Martine.
▶ Attorny : Michael, I don't think we should get our hopes up here. Kidnapping, extortion, assault on this man Brown here, as well as your previous problems with the law--I mean, you could be looking at 10 to 20 years for this.
▷ Michael : I don't think so. I am smarter and better protected than white thinks.
▶ Man A : seems Michael X has managed to keep himself out of jail by threatening to release damning photographs of a certain royal personage. Until we get our hands on these snaps, the police can't move. The public prosecutor won't move, and the Home Office doesn't want to know.
▷ Tim : Has anyone actually seen these photographs?
▶Man A : Yes, but at the moment, I'm not at liberty to say who that person is.
▶ Man B : We've had Michael X under surveillance for quite a while. He keeps a safe deposit box at the Lloyds Bank in Marylebone. We believe that's where the photos are located.
▷Tim : Seems straightforward enough. I'll send a team into this bank. And take whatever he's got in the safe deposit box.
▶Man A : That would have to be sanctioned at the highest level, and that's not going to happen. Do you see our problem? There can be no connection to 506.
▷Tim : So, you want me to come up with something that avoids any accountability for anyone.
▶Man A : we'd welcome suggenstions, Tim.
▷Tim : And if it all goes pear-shaped, I assume it's my ass on the line.
▶Man A : You're young and ambitious, Tim. Chance to make a name for yourself.
▶ Man A : Michael Abdul Malik--calls himself Michael X in homage to Malcolm X, his American counterpart.
The Pinko Press would have us believe this Michael X is a crusading champion of the poor and oppressed.
▷ Man B : A balck Robin Hood of Notting Hill. The richer, whiter, and more famous, the more they fawn over him.
▶ Michael : Are you not charging outrageous rents to my brothers and sisters, Mr. Brown?
▷ Mr. Brown : I'm charging the same as your slumlord friend Lew Vogel.
▶ Michael : 10 quid a week is too much for these **** *****. You know, I always wanted to meet a white man by the name of Brown. You know what this is? It is a slave collar, and the white man made my mothers and fathers wear this to bend them to his will.
