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What is meant by "vectors" in medicine?

A vector is an animal that transmits a specific infectious disease. The vector picks up pathogens (disease-causing organisms) from a source of infection, carries them within or on its body, and later deposits the pathogens onto another animal. In this way, the pathogens infect a new host. Mosquitoes, fleas, lice, ticks, and flies are the primary vectors for human diseases.

Source: The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine, p. 1041.

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