The quality or state of being pathogenic Applied to groups or species of microorganisms, whereas virulence is used in the sense of degree of pathogenicity within the group or species
The property of an organism that determines the extent to which overt disease is produced in an infected population, or the power of an organism to produce disease Also used to describe comparable properties of toxic chemicals Pathogenicity of infectious agents is measured by the ratio of the number of persons developing clinical illness to the number exposed to infection Compare virulence