community transmission
Untraceable local infections
Community transmission describes the spread of a disease within a population where the source of infection cannot be traced to a specific imported case or known contact.
The term signals that a pathogen is circulating locally rather than being contained to identifiable clusters: Once community transmission began, contact tracing became nearly impossible.
It typically marks an escalation in public health response.
- spreadTo distribute widely
- outbreakSudden eruption of trouble
- infectionPathogen invasion causing illness
- contagionDisease spread by contact
- virusMicroscopic infectious agent
pandemic · epidemic · local · airborne · contact · close contact · contact tracing · cluster · hotspot · surge · case count · tracing · exposure · droplets · masks · social distancing · distancing · quarantine
community, transmission, commune, communal, communally, communes, communing, communed, communist