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index patient
noun
plural index patients
: an individual affected with the first known case of an infectious disease or genetically transmitted condition or mutation in a population, region, or family : index case sense 2
Examples of index patient in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The funeral of the index patient may have exposed additional people to the virus and caused new infections.
—Bykai Kupferschmidt, science.org, 3 Oct. 2024
The first girl to become sick—called the index patient—had used a bathroom where a grocery bag of snacks was being stored.
—Sabrina Sholts, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Mar. 2024
The index patient went home the next morning, but cookies, chips and fresh grapes in the grocery bag were passed around at the team’s lunch that afternoon.
—Sabrina Sholts, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Mar. 2024
Health authorities are still grappling with the puzzle of how the index patient in this outbreak, Ali, contracted the disease in the first place.
—WIRED, 22 Sep. 2023
Used successfully to control Ebola outbreaks in Guinea and Sierra Leone, ring vaccination involves quickly inoculating close contacts of index patients, thereby shutting down a virus’s path to the general population.
—Dan Werb, Time, 11 July 2023
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Word History
First Known Use
1951, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near index patient
Cite this Entry
“Index patient.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/index%20patient. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
Medical Definition
index patient
noun
: an individual affected with the first known case of an infectious disease or genetically transmitted condition or mutation in a population, region, or family : index case sense 2
called also index case-patient
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