virulence
aggressiveness, ability to cause disease. (adjective virulent)
The ability of a microorganism to cause damage to its host.
The case mortality rate of an infection. The extent to which a pathogen harms its host. These are different usages: what they have in common is that they refer to the effect on an already infected host, not to the degree of transmissibility to a subsequent susceptible
The proportion of persons with clinical disease, who after becoming infected, become severely ill or die.
The degree of pathogenicity of a microorganism as indicated by the severity of the disease produced and its ability to invade the tissues of a host. M. tuberculosis is a virulent organism.
