Definition of incubation period Incubation period
in•cu•ba•tion pe•ri•od
We found 4 definitions of incubation period from 4 different sources.
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What does incubation period mean?
WordNet
Noun |
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| incubation period - the period between infection and the appearance of symptoms of the disease |
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Wiktionary 
- incubation period (Noun)
The time elapsed between an exposure to a pathogenic organism, a chemical or radiation, and the appearance of signs and symptoms.
OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω
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incubation period
The time it takes for symptoms to appear after a person is infected.
Wikipedia 
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Incubation period is a term used in medicine.
When someone is infected with a pathogen (a disease-causing agent, like a virus), there is a time lag between when the person is infected and when the person has the symptoms of the disease (e.g. fever). This lag time is called the incubation period.
Example.
If someone is infected with the incurable HIV virus by having unprotected sex, then the virus will spend the next few months replicating in the host's body. For HIV, this incubation period can be many months, during which the victim will have no symptoms of infection (but can still infect other people). After the incubation period, the disease symptoms appear (which in the case of HIV, AIDS will occur and cause death).
For most infections, the body's immune system will not "gear up" or "kick in" until late in the incubation period.
