contagion
n. C / Un. the spread of a disease from one person to another by touch or close contact. In business, it describes how a financial problem in one market quickly spreads to others.
n. the communication of disease from one person to another by close contact; by extension, the rapid transmission of a harmful influence or financial instability across a system.
The government took strict measures to stop the contagion.
Economists feared that the banking crisis in one country would lead to a regional contagion, affecting neighboring stock markets.
While the biological contagion was contained through quarantine, the psychological contagion of fear proved much harder to manage, leading to widespread panic and the eventual collapse of local commerce.
From Middle English (late 14th century), from Old French, from Latin contāgiō (“a touching, contact, contagion”) related to contingō (“touch closely”).
Uncountable when referring to the general process of transmission; countable when referring to a specific instance or a specific disease.