182 |Information from dead and dying birds
Table 8.1Some medical and pathological terms
Medical term Meaning
Clinical signs The features of a disease that can be observed—for instance,
lameness, diarrhea, etc. (see other examples below)
Symptoms The features of a disease that are experienced and can be recounted by a
human patient—for instance, giddiness, abdominal pain. DO NOT USE
FOR ANIMALS
Anorexia Absence of appetite
Dyspnea Difficult breathing
Tachypnea Rapid breathing
Dysphagia Difficulty in swallowing
Diarrhea Loose feces
Dysentery Blood in feces
Edema Abnormal accumulation of fluid under the skin or elsewhere
Hyperemia Increase in blood supply
Atrophy Decrease in size of a tissue or organ
Hypertrophy Increase in size of a tissue or organ
Prognosis Forecast of the probable course of a disease
Pathology The study of disease
Etiology The study of the cause of the disease
Disease Disordered state of an organism or organ
Infection The entry of an organism into a susceptible host in which it may
persist, but detectable clinical or pathological effects may or may
not be apparent
Infectious disease A disease caused by the actions of a living organism
(virus, bacterium, etc.), as opposed to physical injuries or
endocrinological disorders or genetic abnormalities
Latent infection An inapparent infection in which the pathogen persists within a host, but
may be activated to produce clinical disease by such factors as stress or
impaired host resistance
Pathogen An organism capable of producing disease
Lesion An abnormality caused by disease of a tissue; usually it is characterized
by changes in appearance of that tissue, for example, a raised nodule on
the skin
Focus (plural “foci”) A small, usually distinct, lesion such as a micro-abscess in the liver
Toxemia A toxin (poison) is present in the blood
Bacteremia Bacteria are present in the blood
Viremia A virus is present in the blood
Parasitemia A parasite is present in the blood
Septicemia Multiplication of organisms in the blood, usually with pathological
effects on organs
Incubation period The time between acquisition of infection and onset of clinical signs
Mortality rate The proportion of deaths during a given time
Morbidity rate The proportion of clinical cases during a given time
Incidence The number of new cases of a particular disease during a stated
period of time
Prevalence The total number of cases of a particular disease at a given moment
of time