- Subclinical infection
In
medicine , a subclinical infection refers to an inapparent, asymptomaticinfection , or an infection that has such a mild course that it does not alert thepatient enough to consult with aphysician .An example could be a mild case of the
common cold ; the patient feels mildly sick, but this feeling is so common that he or she does not address ageneral practitioner .Because many infections do not come to clinical attention, health statistics sometimes fail to represent the true
prevalence of the condition in the population.Another problem with subclinical infections is that the
infectious agent is able to dwell in the patient's body long enough toinfect another person. The time between infection andsymptom s is called theincubation period ; during this time, the patient has a subclinical infection, and can (unwillingly) spread the infectious disease to others. This is the case, for example, for subclinicalsexually transmitted disease s such asAIDS andgenital warts in women.Another common subclinical infection is a
urinary tract infection , particularly in women. If a pregnant woman doesn't get proper treatment, this may causepreterm delivery .Romero R, Espinoza J, Chaiworapongsa T, Kalache K. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=12401296&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_DocSum Infection and prematurity and the role of preventive strategies.] "Semin Neonatol" 2002; 7:259-74. PMID 12401296]Footnotes
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