contagium

[ kuhn-tey-juhm, -jee-uhm ]

noun

, Pathology.

, plural con·ta·gia [k, uh, n-, tey, -j, uh, -jee-, uh].

1. the causative agent of a contagious or infectious disease, as a virus.

contagium

/ kənˈteɪdʒɪəm /

noun

1. pathol the specific virus or other direct cause of any infectious disease

Word History and Origins

Origin of contagium¹

1645–55; < Latin, equivalent to contāg- ( contagion ) + -ium -ium

Word History and Origins

Origin of contagium¹

C17: from Latin, variant of contāgiō contagion

Example Sentences

If the outbreak of typhoid fever cannot be traced directly to the water-supply, the next point to be investigated is the milk, and after that other possible modes of the conveyance of the contagium.

From Project Gutenberg

I do not, however, feel entirely satisfied in adopting the view that the contagium of whooping cough resides alone in the mucous membranes of the air-passages.2 Children have been known to be born with the disease, the mother having suffered from it some time previous to confinement.

From Project Gutenberg

This would show—and there are enough cases on record to warrant our basing an opinion upon them—that the contagium of whooping cough is found not alone in the matters expectorated, notwithstanding the statement of Dolan and others that their experiments failed to show its existence in the blood.

From Project Gutenberg

That these minute bodies really constitute the virulent element of the lymph, or at least that they are the vehicle of the contagium, is not a mere matter of conjecture, but has been demonstrated abundantly, notably by Chauveau and Sanderson's diffusion experiments.

From Project Gutenberg

The writer believes that it always depends on secondary infection—i.e. that the vaccinal wound becomes the nidus of an erysipelatous contagium already existing in the patient's surroundings, just as any other traumatic surface might, and that the vaccinal virus has nothing whatever to do with it.

From Project Gutenberg