Disease Timeline 📍 Incubation period: It is defined as "the time interval between invasion by an infectious agent and appearance of the first sign or symptom of the disease in question." 📍 The extrinsic incubation period is the period between the time when arthropod takes pathogen containing blood meal and the time when that arthropod becomes infectious. 📍 The intrinsic incubation period is the time between a human being infected and the onset of symptoms due to the infection 📍 The Minimum incubation period is the minimum time between a human being infected and the onset of symptoms due to the infection 📍 The Maximum incubation period is the maximum time between a human being infected and the onset of symptoms due to the infection. Also known as this is duration for quarantine 📍 Serial interval: The gap in time between the onset of the primary case and the secondary case is called the "serial interval" 📍 Generation time: It is defined as "the interval of time between receipt of infection by a host and achieving maximal infectivity 📍 Period of communicability: It is defined as "the time during which an infectious agent may be transferred directly or indirectly from an infected person to another person, from an infected animal to man, or from an infected person to an animal, including arthropods 📍 Latent period: The interval between exposure to a carcinogen, toxin, or disease-causing organism and development of a consequent disease. It is mainly used for noncommunicable diseases and it has resemblance with incubation period 📍 Prepatent period: It is the interval between the entrance of the parasite (infective larvae of the Wuchereria bancrofti) and the first appearance of the microfilariae in the blood as in filariasis 📍 Window period: It is the period between the entry of the pathogen and the production of the antibodies