Summary
The infective dose is the number of microorganisms required to produce infection in man. This value varies according to the mode of transmission, the virulence of the infecting agent and the host defense. The individual infective dose bears important implications with regard to epidemiology, prevention and therapy of the given infection. Theoretical remarks and relevant data from the literature are presented to help in the assessment of this basic problem in bacterial infectious diseases.
Zusammenfassung
Die infektiöse Dosis bedeutet die Anzahl von Mikroorganismen, die notwendig ist, um beim Patienten eine Infektion zu verursachen. Diese Größe hängt ab von der Art der Übertragung, der Virulenz des involvierten Erregers und der körpereigenen Abwehr des Patienten. Die individuelle infektiöse Dosis beeinflußt in hohem Ausmaß Epidemiologie, Prävention und Behandlung der jeweiligen Infektion. Es werden theoretische Überlegungen und relevante Daten aus der Literatur dargestellt, die mithelfen, diese grundsätzliche Problematik bei bakteriellen Infektionen zu beurteilen.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature
Hornick, R. B., Greisman, S. E., Woodward, T. E., DuPont, H. L., Dawkins, A. T., Snyder, M. J. Typhoid fever: Pathogenesis and immunologic control (First of two parts). N. Engl. J. Med. 283 (1970) 686–691.
Hornick, R. B., Greisman, S. E., Woodward, T. E., DuPont, H. L., Dawkins, A. T., Snyder, M. J. Typhoid fever: Pathogenesis and immunologic control (Second of two parts). N. Engl. J. Med. 283 (1970) 739–746.
Densen, P., Mandell, G. L. Phagocyte strategy versus microbial tactics. Rev. Infect. Dis. 2 (1980) 817–838.
DuPont, H. L., Hornick, R. B. Clinical approach to infectious diarrheas. Medicine 52 (1973) 265–270.
Bernard, R. P. The Zermatt typhoid outbreak in 1963. J. Hyg. (Camb.) 63 (1965) 537–563.
Asquith, M. T., Harrod, J. R. Reduction of bacterial contamination in banked human milk. J. Pediatr. 95 (1979) 993–994.
Carroll, L., Osman, M., Davies, D. P., McNeish, A. S. Bacteriological criteria for feeding raw breast-milk to babies on neonatal units. Lancet II (1979) 732–733.
Smith, C. B., Chanock, R. M., Friedewald, W. T., Alford, R. H. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections in volunteers. Annals NY Acad. Sci. 143 (1967) 471–483.
Elek, S. D., Conen, P. E. The virulence ofStaphylococcus pyogenes for man. A study of the problems of wound infection. Br. J. Exp. Pathol. 38 (1957) 573–586.
Krizek, T. J., Robson, M. C. Evolution of quantitative bacteriology in wound management. Am. J. Surg. 130 (1975) 579–584.
Loebl, E. C., Marvin, J. A., Heck, E. L., Curreri, P. W., Baxter, C. R. The method of quantitative burn-wound biopsy cultures and its routine use in the care of the burned patient. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 61 (1974) 20–24.
Cleri, D. J., Corrado, M. L., Seligman, S. J. Quantitative culture of intravenous catheters and other intravascular inserts. J. Infect. Dis. 141 (1980) 781–786.
Feldman, W. E. Concentrations of bacteria in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with bacterial meningitis. J. Pediatr. 88 (1976) 549–552.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schaad, U.B. Which number of infecting bacteria is of clinical relevance?. Infection 11 (Suppl 2), S87–S89 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01645294
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01645294