Infection, general - Whole blood and components

Essential information

Definition/s

Acute: lasting for a limited duration only with no long lasting carrier stage

Chronic: continuing, or possibly continuing, infection, even without symptoms or signs of infection.

Infectious diseases are infections that can easily be passed from person to person, either through casual or intimate contact.

A non-contagious disease is a disease which is not transmitted person to person without the aid of a vector (e.g. a mosquito) or is a disease that is the result of an environmental issue which may be shared (e.g. food poisoning).

Obligatory

See: is there a specific entry for the condition?

If not, see as appropriate:

• Infection, acute
• Infection, chronic
• Pyrexia

Contact with infection:

See Infectious diseases, contact with
or Non-contagious diseases, contact with

Discretionary

Symptomless carriers of staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), accept.

Supporting information

See if relevant

• Coronavirus infection
• Endocarditis
• Giardiasis
• Hepatitis
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Hepatitis C
• Hepatitis E
• Herpes simplex
• HIV
• HTLV
• Malaria
• Mosquito-borne viruses
• Osteomyelitis
• Parvovirus B19
• Prion-associated diseases
• Pyrexia
• Rabies
• Rheumatic fever
• Sexually transmitted disease
• South American trypanosomiasis
• Syphilis
• Tetanus
• Thrush
• Toxoplasmosis
• Tuberculosis
• Urinary tract infection
• Viral haemorrhagic fever
• West Nile Virus

Reason for change:

Update of ‘See if relevant’ links due to the replacement of the ‘Kidney and bladder disease’ entry with separate entries for individual topics, and the renaming of the ‘Tropical viruses’ entry as ‘Mosquito-borne viruses’.

Version:

Kidney and bladder disease

Version details:

WB-DSG Edition 203 Release 81 (11 August 2026)