Infectious diseases are caused by various pathogens, including microorganisms or "Microbes" called. They include bacteria, fungi, protozoa (e.g. pathogens causing tropical diseases) and, in a broader sense, viruses. The pathogen can be transmitted from person to person, such as B. with flu-like infections, tuberculosis etc. or by Vectors , active carriers of disease such as mosquitoes (e.g. malaria, yellow fever), ticks (e.g. borreliosis, TBE) and others. Infectious diseases can be acute (e.g. diarrhea, pneumonia) or chronic (e.g. hepatitis B and C, HIV).

Clinical infectiology deals with the - sometimes very complex - diagnostics and therapy of the various pathogen-related diseases. There are a number of different types of bacterial infections Antibiotics different classes that must be carefully selected and adapted depending on the pathogen. I. m In contrast to viral infections, there are only a few Antivirals available for selected viral diseases; in the case of benign viral infections, symptomatic therapy is the only treatment.

Some pathogen-related diseases are vaccine preventable , ie they can be completely or partially prevented by adequate vaccination protection. These include B. measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, polio, hepatitis and others. It is also the task of clinical infectious diseases to refresh or complete the vaccination protection according to the needs of the individual depending on age and risk group.