Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An agent that causes disease, especially a virus, bacterium, or fungus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Biol.) Any microorganism which causes disease; a pathogenic organism; an infectious microorganism; a bacterium, virus, or other agent which can cause disease by infection; -- opposed to zymogene. The spelling pathogene is now archaic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun pathology, immunology Any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any disease-producing agent (especially a virus or bacterium or other microorganism)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From patho- + -gen.

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Examples

  • More people than just me immediately thought of Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain, in which a deadly pathogen is brought to Earth from space.

    Avert your eyes! ewillett 2007

  • "[Phages] are specific to a particular bacterial strain, so researchers will have to isolate and culture a phage for every potential coral pathogen, which isn't feasible."

    Global warming takes a toll on coral reefs 2009

  • And therefore you've got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. "www. loe.org" Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time.

    WN.com - Articles related to First flu virus detector in JDWNRH 2010

  • And therefore you've got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. "www. loe.org" Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time.

    WN.com - Articles related to Swine industry losses are 'critical' 2010

  • Called chikungunya, from an East African tribal word describing the contorted postures of its pain-wracked victims, the pathogen has been the focus of intense scientific interest ever since a 2006 outbreak on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean infected about 266,000 people, killing 260 of them.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • And therefore you've got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. "www. loe.org" Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time.

    WN.com - Articles related to First flu virus detector in JDWNRH 2010

  • And therefore you've got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. "www. loe.org" Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time.

    WN.com - Articles related to Swine industry losses are 'critical' 2010

  • And therefore you've got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. "www. loe.org" Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time.

    WN.com - Articles related to Swine industry losses are 'critical' 2010

  • And therefore you've got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. "www. loe.org" Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time.

    WN.com - Articles related to Swine industry losses are 'critical' 2010

  • Called chikungunya, from an East African tribal word describing the contorted postures of its pain-wracked victims, the pathogen has been the focus of intense scientific interest ever since a 2006 outbreak on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean infected about 266,000 people, killing 260 of them.

    RedOrbit News - Technology 2010

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