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Incubation period

Incubation period, also called the latent period or latency period, is the timeelapsed between exposure to a pathogenicorganism, or chemicalor radiation, and when symptomsand signs are first apparent. The period may be as short as minutes, to as long as thirty yearsin the case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

A person may be a carrier of a disease, such as Streptococcus in the throatwithout exhibiting any symptoms. Depending on the disease, the person may or may not be able to give the disease to others during the incubation period.

Examples of incubation periods

Incubation periods can vary greatly, and are generally expressed as a range. When possible, it is best to express the mean and the 10th and 90th percentiles, though this information is not always available. The values below are arranged roughly in ascending order by number of days, although in some cases the mean had to be inferred.

For many conditions, incubation periods are longer in adults than they are in children or infants.

Cellulitiscaused by Pasteurella multocida-- less than 1 day [1]

Cholera- 1-3 days [2]

Influenza- 1-4 days [3]

Scarlet fever- 1-4 days [4]

Common cold- 2-5 days [5]

Rocky Mountain spotted fever- 2-14 days [6]

SARS- up to 10 days [7]

Roseola- 5-15 days [8]

Polio- 7-14 days [9]

Pertussis- 7-14 days [10]

Measles- 9-12 days [11]

Smallpox- 7-17 days [12]

Generalized tetanus- 7-21 days [13]

Chicken pox- 14-16 days [14]

Erythema infectiosum(Fifth Disease) - 13-18 days [15]

Mumps- 14-18 days [16]

Rubella(German measles) - 14-21 days [17]

Infectious mononucleosis- 28-42 days [18]

kuru-- mean between 10.3 and 13.2 years [19]

Incubation period

Examples of incubation periods

See also