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Incubation period

 

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Incubation period



 
 
Incubation period is the time
Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
 elapsed between exposure to a pathogenic organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
, a chemical or radiation
Ionizing radiation

Ionizing radiation consists of subatomic particle radiation or electromagnetic radiation that are energetic enough to detach electrons from atoms or molecules, ionize them....
, and when symptoms and signs are first apparent. The period may be as short as minutes to as long as thirty years in the case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a very rare and incurable degeneration neurology that is fatal. Among the types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found in humans, it is the most common....
.

While Latent or Latency period may be synonymous, a distinction is sometimes made between Incubation period, the period between infection and clinical onset of the disease, and Latent period, the time from infection to infectiousness.






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Incubation period is the time
Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
 elapsed between exposure to a pathogenic organism
Organism

In biology, an organism is any life thing . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimulus , reproduction, growth and developmental biology, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole....
, a chemical or radiation
Ionizing radiation

Ionizing radiation consists of subatomic particle radiation or electromagnetic radiation that are energetic enough to detach electrons from atoms or molecules, ionize them....
, and when symptoms and signs are first apparent. The period may be as short as minutes to as long as thirty years in the case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a very rare and incurable degeneration neurology that is fatal. Among the types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found in humans, it is the most common....
.

While Latent or Latency period may be synonymous, a distinction is sometimes made between Incubation period, the period between infection and clinical onset of the disease, and Latent period, the time from infection to infectiousness. Which is shorter depends on the disease.

A person may be a carrier of a disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
, such as Streptococcus
Streptococcus

Streptococcus is a genus of sphere Gram-positive bacterium belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and the lactic acid bacteria group. Cell division occurs along a single Coordinate axis in these bacteria, and thus they grow in chains or pairs, hence the name — from Greek language st?ept?? streptos, meaning easily bent or twisted,...
 in the throat
Throat

In anatomy, the throat is the anterior part of the neck, in front of the vertebrae. It consists of the pharynx and larynx. An important feature of the throat is the epiglottis, a flap which separates the esophagus from the vertebrate trachea and prevents inhalation of food or drink....
 without exhibiting any symptoms. Depending on the disease, the person may or may not be contagious during the incubation period.

Examples of incubation periods

Incubation periods vary greatly, and are generallyexpressed as a range. When possible, it is best to express the mean and the 10th and 90th percentiles, though this information is not always available. The values below are arranged roughly in ascending order by number of days, although in some cases the mean had to be inferred.

For many conditions, incubation periods are longer in adults than they are in children or infants.
Disease Incubation period Reference
Cellulitis
Cellulitis

Cellulitis is a diffuse infection of connective tissue with severe inflammation of dermal and subcutaneous layers of the skin. Cellulitis can be caused by normal skin Flora or by exogenous bacteria, and often occurs where the skin has previously been broken: cracks in the skin, cuts, blisters, burn , insect bites, surgical wounds, or sites o...
 caused by Pasteurella multocida
Pasteurella multocida

Pasteurella multocida is a Gram-negative, non-motile coccobacillus that is penicillin-sensitive and belongs to the Pasteurellaceae family . It can cause a zoonotic infection in humans, which typically is a result of bites or scratches from domestic pets....
 
less than 1 day
Cholera
Cholera

Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae....
 
1-3 days
Influenza
Influenza

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease that affects birds and mammals caused by RNA viruses of the biological family Orthomyxoviridae ....
 
1-4 days
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever

Scarlet fever is a disease caused by an exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. The term Scarlatina may be used interchangeably with Scarlet Fever, though it is commonly used to indicate the less acute form of Scarlet Fever that is often seen since the beginning of the twentieth century....
 
1-4 days
Common cold
Common cold

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, virus infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses or coronaviruses....
 
2-5 days
Ebola
Ebola

Ebola is the common term for a group of viruses belonging to genus Ebolavirus , family Filoviridae, and for the disease that they cause, Ebola viral hemorrhagic fever....
 
2-21 days  
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
Rocky Mountain spotted fever

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most lethal and most frequently reported rickettsial illness in the United States. It has been diagnosed throughout the Americas....
 
2-14 days
SARS
SARs

SARs may refer to:*Special Administrative Regions*Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome *South African Revenue Service ...
 
up to 10 days
Roseola
Roseola

Exanthem subitum , also referred to as roseola infantum , sixth disease and baby measles, or three day fever, is a disease of children, generally under two years old, whose manifestations are usually limited to a transient rash that occurs following a fever of about three day's duration....
 
5-15 days
Polio 7-14 days
Pertussis
Pertussis

Pertussis, also known as the whooping cough, is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis; it derived its name from the"whooping" sound made from the exhalation of air during a cough.; a similar, milder disease is caused by Bordetella parapertussis....
 
7-14 days
Measles
Measles

Measles is a infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses....
 
9-12 days
Smallpox
Smallpox

Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"....
 
7-17 days
Generalized tetanus
Tetanus

Tetanus, also called lockjaw, is a medical condition characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. The primary symptoms are caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by the Gram-positive, Anaerobic organism Clostridium tetani....
 
7-21 days
Chicken pox 14-16 days
Erythema infectiosum (Fifth Disease
Fifth disease

Erythema infectiosum or fifth disease is one of several possible manifestations of infection by erythrovirus previously called parvovirus B19....
)
13-18 days
Mumps
MUMPS

MUMPS , or alternatively M, is a programming language created in the late 1960s, originally for use in the Health care. It was designed for the production of multi-user database-driven applications....
 
14-18 days
Rubella
Rubella

Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by Rubella virus. The name is derived from the Latin, meaning little red....
 (German measles)
14-21 days
Infectious mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis

EBV infectious mononucleosis is an infectious, viral disease which most commonly occurs in adolescents and young adults. It is characterized by fever, sore throat and fatigue , along with several other possible signs and symptoms....
 
28-42 days
Kuru
Kuru (disease)

Kuru also known as "Mad Human Disease" is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder that is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found in humans....
 
mean between 10.3 and 13.2 years