contagium

American  

[kuhn-tey-juhm, -jee-uhm] / kənˈteɪ dʒəm, -dʒi əm /

noun

Pathology.

plural

contagia

1. the causative agent of a contagious or infectious disease, as a virus.

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contagium British  

/ kənˈteɪdʒɪəm /

noun

1. pathol the specific virus or other direct cause of any infectious disease

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Etymology

Origin of contagium

1645–55; < Latin, equivalent to contāg- ( contagion ) + -ium -ium

Example Sentences

With bacteriology gaining ground, some scientists posited a germlike contagium psychicum—a microbe of the mind—as the vector behind so-called "mental contagion."

From Slate • Apr. 7, 2010

If the outbreak of typhoid fever cannot be traced directly to the water-supply, the next point to be investigated is the milk, and after that other possible modes of the conveyance of the contagium.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

These may be inflicted when horses lie down upon sharp stumps of vegetation or shoe-calk injuries may be the means of introducing contagium, and an infectious inflammation results.

From Lameness of the Horse Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1 by Lacroix, John Victor

In a similar manner, a particle of contagium spreads through the human body and may be so multiplied as to strike down whole populations.

From Fragments of science, V. 1-2 by Tyndall, John

The disease bears as constant a relation to its contagium as the microscopic organisms just enumerated do to their germs, or indeed as a thistle does to its seed.

From Fragments of science, V. 1-2 by Tyndall, John