infection

noun

Etymology: From Old French infection, from Late Latin īnfectiō. Equivalent to infect + -ion.

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 times a week for hours at a time.”

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.”

   “And researchers at the National Institutes of Health report finding candidalike fungus infections in the blood of AIDS victims.”

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