Meaning of OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTION

WordNet Dictionary
	Definition:		[n]  any infection caused by a microorganism that does not normally cause disease in humans; occurs in persons with abnormally functioning immune systems (as AIDS patients or transplant patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs)
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	See Also:		aspergillosis, infection
Medical Dictionary
	Definition:		An infection caused by an infectious agent that would not normally make a healthy person sick.
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Biology Dictionary
	Definition:		An opportunistic infection is an infection by organisms that normally do not cause clinically significant conditions although the organisms may be normally present in the patient. An example of this would be an infection caused by a proliferation of bacteria that normally inhabit the intestinal tract. Opportunistic infections usually occur when the patient's immune system is depressed by cytotoxic drugs, radiation therapy, immunosuppresive drugs, or indwelling catheters in the artery (arterial line), or vein (central venous line, Swan-Ganz catheterization).
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