Definition of "pathogen" [path•o•gen]

• An agent that causes disease, especially a living microorganism such as a bacterium or fungus. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "More people than just me immediately thought of Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain, in which a deadly pathogen is brought to Earth from space."
• ""[Phages] are specific to a particular bacterial strain, so researchers will have to isolate and culture a phage for every potential coral pathogen, which isn't feasible.""
• "And therefore you've got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. "www. loe.org" Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time."