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In medicine, infectious disease or communicable disease is disease caused by a biological agent (e.g. virus, bacterium or parasite), as opposed to physical (e.g. burns) or chemical (e.g. intoxication) causes.

1 Agents and vectors

Infectious disease requires an agent and a mode of transmission (or vector). A good example is malaria, which is mainly caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum but does not affect humans unless the vector, the Anopheles mosquito, is around to introduce the parasite into the humanHuman beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. Biologically, they are classified as Homo sapiens ( Latin for knowing man , a primate species of mammal with a highly developed brain. In spiritua bloodstream.

The vector does not have to be biological. Many infectious diseases are transmitted by droplets which enter the airway (e.g. common coldThe common cold is a mild viral infectious disease of the nose and throat, the upper respiratory system. Its symptoms are sneezing, sniffing, running/blocked nose (often these occur simultaneously, or one in each nostril), scratchy, sore, or phlegmy throa and tuberculosisTuberculosis is also called TB consumption (TB seemed to consume people from within with its symptoms of bloody cough, fever, pallor, and long relentless wasting), wasting disease White Plague (TB sufferers appeared markedly pale), phthisis (Greek for con).

2 Mortality from infectious diseases

The World Health OrganizationFor other meanings of the acronym 'WHO', see WHO (disambiguation : Please note ''Sections of this article have been edited by a user in arbitration. The relevance of those sections is controversial but they may remain whilst the arbitration is in process collects information on global deaths by International Classification of Disease (ICD) code categoriesThe International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (commonly known by the abbreviation ICD is a detailed description of known diseases and injuries. It is published by the World Health Organization and is used world-wide. The following table lists the top infectious disease killers which caused more than 100,000 deaths in 2002 (estimated). 1993 data is also included for comparison.

		2002		1993
	World population	6.2 billion		5.5 billion
	Total deaths from all causes	57 million	100%	51 million
Rank	Cause of death	Number	Percentage of total	Number	1993 Rank
	I. Communicable diseases category	14.9 million	26.0%
1	Lower respiratory infectionWhile often used as a synonym for pneumonia, the rubric of lower respiratory tract infection can also be applied to other types of infection including lung abscess, acute bronchitis, and empyema.s	3.9 million	6.8%	4.1 million	1
2	HIVThe Human immunodeficiency virus HIV is a frequently mutating retrovirus that attacks the human immune system and which has been shown to cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). History HIV was discovered and identified as the agent for AIDS by/ AIDSAIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome sometimes written Aids is a human disease characterized by progressive destruction of the body's immune system. It is widely accepted that AIDS results from infection with HIV	2.8 million	4.9%	0.7 million	7
3	Diarrheal diseases	1.8 million	3.2%	3.0 million	2
4	Tuberculosis (TB)	1.6 million	2.7%	2.7 million	3
5	Malaria	1.3 million	2.2%	2.0 million	4
6	Measles	0.6 million	1.1%	1.1 million	5
7	Pertussis	0.30 million	0.5%	0.36 million	7
8	Tetanus	0.21 million	0.4%	0.15 million	12
9	Meningitis	0.17 million	0.3%	0.25 million	8
10	Syphilis	0.16 million	0.3%	0.19 million	11
11	Hepatitis B	0.10 million	0.2%	0.93 million	6
	Tropical diseases (6)	0.13 million	0.2%	0.53 million	9, 10, 16, 17, 18

(Note: The other categories of death are maternal and perinatal conditions (5.2%), nutritional deficiencies (0.9%), noncommunicable conditions (58.8%), and injuries (9.1%).)

The top three single agent disease killers are HIV/ AIDS, TB, and malaria. Lower respiratory infections (which include various pneumonias) and diarrheal diseases are caused by many different viruses, bacteria or parasites.

Childhood diseases include pertussis, poliomyelitis, diptheria, measles, and tetanus. Children also make up a large percentage of lower respiratory and diarrheal deaths.

Tropical diseases include trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease. schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, and onchocerciasis.

From 1993 to 2002, the death ranking for AIDS went up from 7th to 2nd and Hepatitis B went down from 6th to 11th. While the number of deaths has decreased in almost every disease, it has increased four-fold in AIDS.

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