A contact is a person or animal that has been in association with a disease-infected person or animal in such a way as to have had an opportunity to acquire the infection and be capable of transmitting it. A contact may not be ill or have any overt signs or symptoms of infection, yet may nevertheless transmit the infection to others who are susceptible to the infection. The word also describes the mode of transmission of infection, which may be either by direct (person-to-person) or indirect contact. Indirect contact includes transmission of infection via contaminated clothing or utensils, through an intermediary living creature such as a rat or domestic animal, or by insect vectors in which the infectious pathogen passes part of its life cycle.

Symptomless, and apparently healthy, infected individuals are a very important category of contacts. Many sexually transmitted diseases, many food-borne gastrointestinal infections, and several of the common infectious diseases are spread by apparently healthy contacts. Contact tracing is therefore an essential part of the process of surveillance and control of communicable diseases, especially sexually transmitted diseases. Quarantine was once a common method of restricting the movements of known contacts of contagious diseases such as diphtheria, and of diseases erroneously believed to be contagious, notably poliomyelitis.

(SEE ALSO: Carrier; Communicable Disease Control; Contagion; Cordon Sanitaire; Quarantine)

A part which is an electric conductor and which provides a low-resistance path for current flow upon mating with another conducting part with which it is designed to operate. Veterinary Dictionary:contactTopHome > Library > Animal Life > Veterinary Dictionary 1. a mutual touching of two bodies or animals.2. an animal known to have been sufficiently near an infected animal to have been exposed to the transfer of infectious material.c. activation — the initiation of the intrinsic pathway of coagulation that occurs when whole blood contacts glass or similar surfaces; involves the conversion of factor XII into its active form, factor XIIa. This subsequently converts factor XI to XIa and so the coagulation cascade begins.c. allergy — see contact dermatitis (below).bone c. repair — repair of a fracture by contact apposition of the two fracture surfaces.c. dermatitis — is caused by direct contact between the skin and a substance which is irritating or to which the animal is allergic or sensitive. The reaction usually occurs only on that area of the body that has come into contact with the substance. See also allergic contact dermatitis.direct c., immediate c. — the contact, by sharing the same accommodation or pasture or group, of a healthy animal with an animal having a communicable disease, the disease being transmitted as a result. See also contact transmission.c. healing — a form of primary bone healing at a fracture site where there is cortical bone in contact.c. hypersensitivity — see allergic contact dermatitis.indirect c. — that achieved through some intervening medium, as propagation of a communicable disease through the air or by means of fomites or another animal, e.g. an infection may be passed to animal A from animal B via animal C; animal C is an indirect contact.c. irritant dermatitis — skin disease produced by contact with an irritating substance; in contrast with allergic contact dermatitis, an immune reaction is not involved.mediate c. — indirect contact. Electronics Dictionary:contactTopHome > Library > Science > Electronics Dictionary Current carrying part of a switch, relay or connector.