Topic summary
Infectious dose
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Minimal infective dose.
The concept of a minimal infective dose (MID), also known as the infectious dose, has traditionally been used for infectiousmicroorganisms that contaminate foods. MID was defined as the number of microorganisms ingested (the dose) from which a pathology is observed in the consumer. For example, to cause gastrointestinal disorders, the food must contain more than 100,000 Salmonella per gram or 1000 per gram for salmonellosis. However, some viruses like DHBV( duck hepatitis B virus) can cause infections with a single viral particle. To know the dose ingested, it is also necessary to know the mass of the portion. This may be calculated using the following formula: