Abstract
The occurrence of infection without disease is a well-recognized phenomenon in infectious diseases to which the terms “inapparent” or “subclinical” are usually applied. The known determinants of whether a given infection results in clinical or in subclinical illness have been discussed in the previous chapter. Age at the time of infection is certainly an important host determinant but the mechanism by which this occurs is poorly understood. Some of these factors lie in our immunological system and our genetic makeup but others are unknown and remain a major challenge to investigators. If we could discover these secrets that result in clinical illness in some and in subclinical illness in others, and find a way to modify the host’s response so that only the latter results, then we could achieve natural immunity without disease. The characteristics of the agent also play an important role in this phenomenon, to which the terms “pathogenicity” and “virulence” are applied.
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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Evans, A.S. (1993). Subclinical Epidemiology. In: Causation and Disease. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3024-4_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3024-4_12
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