|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Contact
CONTACTA contact is a person or animal that has been in association with a disease-infected person or animal in such a way as to have had an opportunity to acquire the infection and be capable of transmitting it. A contact may not be ill or have any overt signs or symptoms of infection, yet may nevertheless transmit the infection to others who are susceptible to the infection. The word also describes the mode of transmission of infection, which may be either by direct (person-to-person) or indirect contact. Indirect contact includes transmission of infection via contaminated clothing or utensils, through an intermediary living creature such as a rat or domestic animal, or by insect vectors in which the infectious pathogen passes part of its life cycle. Symptomless, and apparently healthy, infected individuals are a very important category of contacts. Many sexually transmitted diseases, many food-borne gastrointestinal infections, and several of the common infectious diseases are spread by apparently healthy contacts. Contact tracing is therefore an essential part of the process of surveillance and control of communicable diseases, especially sexually transmitted diseases. Quarantine was once a common method of restricting the movements of known contacts of contagious diseases such as diphtheria, and of diseases erroneously believed to be contagious, notably poliomyelitis. John M. Last (see also: Carrier; Communicable Disease Control; Contagion; Cordon Sanitaire; Quarantine ) |
|
|
Cite this article
Last, John M.. "Contact." Encyclopedia of Public Health. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Last, John M.. "Contact." Encyclopedia of Public Health. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404000221.html Last, John M.. "Contact." Encyclopedia of Public Health. 2002. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404000221.html |
|
contact
con·tact • n. / ˈkänˌtakt/ 1. the state or condition of physical touching: the tennis ball is in contact with the court surface for as little as 5 milliseconds. ∎ the state or condition of communicating or meeting: he had lost contact with his friends. ∎ [as adj.] activated by or operating through physical touch: contact dermatitis. ∎ a connection for the passage of an electric current from one thing to another, or a part or device by which such a connection is made. ∎ (contacts) contact lenses. 2. a meeting, communication, or relationship with someone. ∎ a person who may be communicated with for information or assistance, esp. with regard to one's job. ∎ a person who has associated with a patient with a contagious disease (and so may carry the infection). • v. / ˈkänˌtakt; kənˈtakt/ [tr.] communicate with (someone), typically in order to give or receive specific information. DERIVATIVES: con·tact·a·ble / ˈkänˌtaktəbəl; kənˈtak-/ adj. |
|
|
Cite this article
"contact." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "contact." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-contact.html "contact." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-contact.html |
|
Contact
Contact (2000), a “dance play with music” by Susan Stroman and John Weidman. [Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, 1,010 perf.; Tony Award.] Choreographer Stroman conceived and staged this unusual entertainment that Weidman wrote, though there was little dialogue and the music was prerecorded standards. The opener is a danced version of Fragonard's painting “The Swing” in which an aristocrat ( Séan Martin Huingston) disguised as a servant woos a lady ( Stephanie Michels). The second piece explored the vivid imagination of an abused wife ( Karen Ziemba) at an Italian restaurant. The longest section concerned the suicidal Michael ( Boyd Gaines) who is entranced by an elusive Girl in a Yellow Dress ( Deborah Yates) whom he meets in a nightclub. Although many critics considered the program unsatisfying as theatre, all applauded its dancing and the attraction was popular enough that Lincoln Center moved it upstairs to the larger Vivian Beaumont Theatre for a long run.
|
|
|
Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Contact." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Contact." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-Contact.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Contact." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-Contact.html |
|
contact
contact The depositional, intrusive, or faulted surface along which two different rock types are juxtaposed. The term is especially applicable to situations where plutonic igneous rocks intrude into country rocks; in this context ‘contact’ also refers to the effect on country rocks of conductive or convective heat transfer (i.e. contact metamorphism).
|
|
|
Cite this article
AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "contact." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "contact." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-contact.html AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "contact." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-contact.html |
|
contact
contact (kon-takt) n. transmission of an infectious disease by touching or handling an infected person or animal (direct c.) or by inhaling airborne droplets, etc., containing the infective microorganism (indirect c.).
|
|
|
Cite this article
"contact." A Dictionary of Nursing. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "contact." A Dictionary of Nursing. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O62-contact.html "contact." A Dictionary of Nursing. 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O62-contact.html |
|
contact
contact sb. XVII. — L. contāctus, f. contāct-, pp. stem of contingere touch closely, border on, be CONTIGUOUS to, f. CON- + tangere touch.
|
|
|
Cite this article
T. F. HOAD. "contact." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "contact." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-contact.html T. F. HOAD. "contact." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-contact.html |
|
contact
contact
•abreact, abstract, act, attract, bract, compact, contract, counteract, diffract, enact, exact, extract, fact, humpbacked, hunchbacked, impact, interact, matter-of-fact, pact, protract, redact, refract, retroact, subcontract, subtract, tact, tract, transact, unbacked, underact, untracked
•play-act • autodidact
•artefact (US artifact) • cataract
•contact
•marked, unremarked
•Wehrmacht
•affect, bisect, bull-necked, collect, confect, connect, correct, defect, deflect, deject, detect, direct, effect, eject, elect, erect, expect, infect, inflect, inject, inspect, interconnect, interject, intersect, misdirect, neglect, object, perfect, project, prospect, protect, reflect, reject, respect, resurrect, sect, select, subject, suspect, transect, unchecked, Utrecht
•prefect • abject • retroject • intellect
•genuflect • idiolect • dialect • aspect
•circumspect • retrospect • Dordrecht
•vivisect • architect • unbaked
•sun-baked
|
|
|
Cite this article
"contact." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "contact." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-contact.html "contact." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-contact.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
