Dissemination

Dissemination (from Latin disseminare - to scatter), dissemination, a term used to denote cases where from some local infectious focus there occurs a spread of the causative agents of the process both within one or another organ (e.g. bronchogenous dissemination of tuberculosis of the lungs), and throughout the body, via its blood and lymphatic systems. Following dissemination, usually, though not necessarily, there occurs a generalization of the process itself, i.e. the development of new, mostly numerous foci of the same (or similar in nature) process. If generalization of the process does not occur, dissemination still leads to a change in the immunobiological state of the body, to allergy (see Tuberculosis). It should however be noted that in both practical and theoretical medicine, the term dissemination is often used with the same meaning as the term 'generalization' (e.g. they speak of dissemination of tuberculosis, dissemination of a tumor, etc.).