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.
