Introduction: Carrier conditions

Carrier conditions: The term "carrier" is used for any person who is symptom-free (or has only very mild symptoms) despite having a medical condition. The two main types are carriers of genetic diseases and carriers of infectious diseases.

Genetic carriers can occur in any recessive but not in a dominant genetic disease. For example, x-linked recessive diseases affect only males, with women being symptom-free carriers of a genetic defect, passed onto their male children. Both males and females can be carriers of autosomal recessive genetic diseases. Genetic carriers are not contagious; they can only pass the disease onto their own children through genetics.

Infectious disease carriers are those who have a low-level infection with a disease but without symptoms. Carriers of infectious diseases can be contagious even if they do not have symptoms. Whether an infectious carrier is contagious depends on the type of condition. See also the list of diseases with no symptoms or vague symptoms.

Medical Tools & Articles:

Next articles:

• Risk Factor Center
• Medical Statistics Center
• Medical Treatment Center
• Prevention Center
• Medical Tests Center

• Disease & Treatments Search
• Online Diagnosis
• Misdiagnosis Center
• Full list of interesting articles