carrier
Chapter: 9b
A person or animal that harbors a specific infectious agent in the absence of clinical disease and may serve as a potential source of infection. The carrier state may exist in an individual with an infection that is inapparent throughout its course (commonly known as a healthy or asymptomatic carrier), or during the incubation period, convalescence, and post-convalescence of an individual with a clinically recognizable disease (commonly known as incubatory carrier or convalescent carrier). Under either circumstance the carrier state may be of short or long duration (temporary or transient carrier, or chronic carrier).