infection

Noun

infection (countable and uncountable, plural infections)

1. The act or process of infecting.
2. An uncontrolled growth of harmful microorganisms in a host.
   • An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic[…]real kidneys[…]. But they are nothing like as efficient, and can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three...2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)
3. A disease caused by such presence of a pathogen.
   • As the previously used chemotherapeutic agents have only proved themselves to be spirochetostatic and not spirochetocidal, the patient is liable to a delayed infection which may not become manifest for years.1944, Cedric C. Carpenter, “Failure of penicillin to prevent syphilis”, in United States Naval Medical Bulletin, volume 43, number 2, pages 389–390
   • And researchers at the National Institutes of Health report finding candidalike fungus infections in the blood of AIDS victims.1988 January 22, Robert McClory, “The Yeast of Our Problems”, in Chicago Reader

   Synonyms:

   infectious disease

4. A visible sign of such a disease, such as the suppuration of a wound.