An infectious disease that is spread through contact with infected individuals; also called a communicable disease. Contact with the bodily secretions of such individuals, or with objects that they have contaminated, can also spread this kind of disease.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.