High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Virulence is the degree of pathogenicity of an organism: the relative ability of a pathogen to cause disease. The noun virulence derives from the adjective virulent. In discussing disease, the adjective virulent is used to describe effect severity, and in discussing pathogens, the degree of infectiousness. The word virulent derives from the Latin word virulentus, meaning "a poisoned wound" or "full of poison." In an ecological context, virulence can be defined as the host's parasite-induced loss of fitness. Virulence can be understood in terms of proximate causes—those specific traits of the pathogen that help make the host ill—and ultimate causes—the evolutionary pressures that lead to virulent traits occurring in a pathogen strain.

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