Cambridge O Level Biology · Syllabus 5090 · Disease and Immunity
Route Of Transmission
What is Route Of Transmission?
The particular path a pathogen takes from an infected host to a new host. Naming the route matters because every control measure works by interrupting one specific step in it, and an explanation that does not identify the step interrupted is incomplete.
This definition is part of the Disease and Immunity chapter in Cambridge O Level Biology.
Route Of Transmission in context
A pathogen is a disease-causing organism, and a transmissible disease is one in which the pathogen can pass from one host to another. Every method of disease control in this chapter works by breaking one specific link in the chain that runs from an infected host, along a route of transmission, past the body's barriers, into a new host. Vaccination is the one control that acts on the far end of the chain: it prepares the immune system before the pathogen ever arrives.