This term means disease-producing, and is a term applied, for example, to bacteria capable of causing disease.
adj. capable of causing disease. The term is applied to a parasitic microorganism (especially a bacterium) in relation to its host. —pathogenicity n.
causing or producing disease.
The atypical mycobacteria. The commonest PPEM to cause human disease is the Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex. PPEM differ from M. tuberculosis in their source (environmental or zoonotic), rate of growth, temperature of growth and ability to produce pigment on culture. Mostly infect immunologically compromised humans and the disease caused by some species may be clinicallyindistinguishable from true human tuberculosis.... potentially pathogenic environmental mycobacteria (ppem)
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