Incubation period
The incubation period (from Latin incubatio, "incubation, incubation", from Latin incubare 'to incubate') is a term from infectiology and describes the time that elapses between infection with a pathogen and the appearance of the first symptoms ("outbreak").
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Depending on the disease, the incubation period can range from a few hours to several years (see below). This depends on how quickly and in what specific way the corresponding pathogens multiply in the body (temperance, virulence), how they affect the body, how strong the immune system is and when symptoms can first be noticed. Occasionally, with relatively harmless pathogens, there may even be no symptoms at all despite an infection (so-called inapparent infection).
Many diseases can also be infectious (contagious) even before the onset of symptoms. This is the case, for example, when the pathogen has already been able to multiply sufficiently locally (e.g. in the nasopharynx), but has not yet penetrated the bloodstream, as a result of which the immune system has not yet reacted in a strength that leads to the classic (indirect) symptoms such as fever and aching limbs. For this reason, historically, people arriving from endemic areas were not allowed to enter the country for 40 days (quarantaine in French; hence quarantine) in many places, to make sure that they were not ill.
In the case of poisoning, the phase until the onset of symptoms is called latency, whereas in the case of infection, latency refers to the interval between infection and the onset of infectivity described above.
Incubation periods of some human infectious diseases
- The poliovirus multiplies in the lymphatic tissue of the digestive tract (enterovirus). After one to two weeks, unspecific symptoms such as fever and aching limbs may occur; this is then the incubation period. About half a week later, the full clinical picture of polio can then follow.
- In rabies, the duration of the incubation period depends on the localization of the bite with which the virus was transmitted. The longer its path along the peripheral nerves to the brain, the longer the incubation period.
- Local infections have a correspondingly short incubation period.
The following is a list of known infectious diseases:
| Disease | between | and | Time unit | Comment |
| Adult T-cell leukemia | 60 | 0more | 00Years | |
| Cholera | ,000,5 | ,0004,5 | 00days | |
| COVID-19 | 01 | 014 (27) | 00days | On average (median) 5 to 6 days |
| Dengue fever | 03 | 014 | 00days | Average 4 to 7 days |
| Diphtheria | 01 | 010 | 00days | Average 2 to 5 days |
| Ebola fever | 02 | 021 | 00days | Most often between 8 and 10 days |
| Spotted Fever | 10 | 014 | 00days | |
| Gonorrhoea | 02 | 3–5 | 00days | |
| Influenza - Flu | 01 | 004 | 00days | Average 2 days |
| hepatitis A | 14 | 028 | 00days | |
| hepatitis B | 30 | 180 | 00days | Average 75 days |
| hepatitis C | 14 | 180 | 00days | |
| Meningitis - meningitis | 02 | 010 | 00days | Average 4 days |
| HIV | 21 | 042 | 00days | |
| Whooping cough - pertussis | 06 | 020 | 00days | Mostly 9 to 10 days |
| Polio | 03 | 035 | 00days | Mostly 7 to 14 days |
| Leprosy | ,000,5 | 005 | 00Years | Can also be up to 20 years. |
| malaria quartana | 16 | 050 | 00days | |
| tertian malaria | 12 | 018 | 00days | incubation period may also be several months. |
| malaria tropica | 10 | 015 | 00days | |
| Marburg fever | 03 | 009 | 00days | |
| Measles | 8–10 | 10–12 | 00days | |
| Cutaneous anthrax | 01 | 007 | 00days | |
| Pulmonary Anthrax | 01 | 007 | 00days | Can also be up to 2 months |
| Intestinal Anthrax | 1–3 | 007 | 00days | |
| Mumps | 12 | 025 | 00days | On average 16 to 18 days |
| Plague - bubonic plague | 01 | 007 | 00days | |
| Plague - pneumonic plague | 01 | 003 | 00days | |
| Ringworm | 04 | 014 | 00days | |
| Rubella | 14 | 021 | 00days | |
| Relapse Fever | 01 | 014 | 00days | Often about 5 days |
| Dysentery - amoebic dysentery | 01 | 007 | 00days | |
| Dysentery - Bacterial Dysentery | 02 | 007 | 00days | |
| Salmonella | 012 | 024 | 00hours | |
| Scarlet fever | 02 | 004 | 00days | |
| Syphilis | 10 | 090 | 00days | Average 21 days |
| Rabies | 30 | 090 | 00days | Can also be between a week and a year. |
| Tuberculosis | 14 | 070 | 00days | |
| Typhoid | 07 | 021 | 00days | Extreme values between 3 and 60 days |
| Avian influenza_H5N1, Avian influenza H7N9 (avian flu) | 01 | 05 | 00days | |
| Chickenpox | 10 | 021 | 00days | Mostly 14 to 17 days |
| Tetanus - Tetanus | 03 | 021 | 00days |
Questions and Answers
Q: What is an incubation period?
A: An incubation period is the time it takes between the day a person is infected with a pathogen and the day that the person starts having symptoms of the disease.
Q: Can the length of an incubation period vary between different diseases?
A: Yes, the length of an incubation period can vary between different diseases.
Q: What is an example of a disease with a short incubation period?
A: The common cold is an example of a disease with a short incubation period, usually taking about one to three days to develop symptoms.
Q: Can a person with HIV give other people the virus during the incubation period?
A: Yes, a person with HIV can still give other people the virus during the incubation period, even though they do not yet have symptoms.
Q: What does the pathogen do during the incubation period?
A: The pathogen is making copies of itself during the incubation period.
Q: Does every disease have an incubation period?
A: Not every disease has an incubation period, but many infectious diseases do.
Q: Is it possible for symptoms to appear before the end of the incubation period?
A: It is possible for symptoms to appear before the end of the incubation period, but typically symptoms begin to appear after the incubation period has passed.
