ABSTRACT
Information about hazard specification, public health measures, and societal perception are helpful to define a general mechanism of infection and contagion in light of the most important, utilitarian values. Its operationalisation allows naming and describing detailed mechanisms associated with transmission diseases, foodborne diseases, respiratory diseases, diseases transmitted sexually and by bloodborne contact, zoonoses, skin diseases, and diseases transmitted through contact with contaminated water or soil. Each of the mechanisms has a network character. It means that there could be many paths to infection and contagion development and all of them need to be considered to protect people from an epidemic. Besides that, the mechanisms regard specific civil protection conditions and may shed a light into the design of protection actions to reduce epidemic risk.
