pathogen
n.a tiny living thing that causes disease, such as a virus or bacteria.
n.a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease in its host.
“The new vaccine protects against several common pathogens.”
“Hospital staff follow strict cleaning protocols to prevent the spread of dangerous pathogens between patients.”
“The evolution of antibiotic resistance allows certain pathogens to survive treatments that were previously effective, posing a significant challenge to modern public health systems.”
Commonly used in medical and scientific contexts to refer to any disease-causing agent.
“Experiments showed that attaching a CD47 peptide to the carriers' outer surfaces protected them from being mistaken for pathogens and eaten by macrophages.”
“I am a public health water microbiologist who collects sewage water and tests it for evidence of harmful pathogens, such as cyclospora.”
Common in science writing
From patho- + -gen. Second element ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“lineage”) through Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “birth”)
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.