Natural reservoir

A host population or environmental habitat in which an infectious pathogen normally lives and persists, often serving as a source of infection.

Pathogen persistence: The continued survival of a pathogen in a host, population, or environment over time. Persistence is what lets a reservoir maintain a pathogen between outbreaks or transmission events.
Host: An organism in or on which another organism lives, including a pathogen. Reservoir hosts are living settings in which pathogens survive and may reproduce.
Zoonosis: An infectious disease that can be transmitted between nonhuman animals and humans. Animal reservoirs are sources of pathogens that cause zoonotic infections.
Infection source: The person, animal, object, or environment from which a host directly acquires an infectious agent. An immediate source may transmit infection without maintaining the pathogen over time.
Reservoir competence: The ability of a host species to acquire, maintain, and transmit a pathogen. This describes how effectively a host population functions as a pathogen reservoir.
Pathogen: A biological agent that causes disease in a host. A reservoir is defined by the pathogen it sustains.
Rabies: A viral disease of mammals that causes progressive inflammation of the brain and is usually fatal after symptoms begin. Wild mammal populations maintain rabies virus and can expose domestic animals and people.
Index case: The first case identified in an investigation of an outbreak or transmission chain. The first detected case is not necessarily the pathogen’s reservoir.
Spillover infection: An infection that passes from a pathogen’s usual host population into a different species or population. Pathogens maintained in reservoirs can cross into new hosts and initiate spillover.
Infection: The establishment and multiplication of an infectious agent within a host. Infection is the host-level process through which many reservoirs maintain pathogens.

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