realized in characteristic of inheres in role pathogen role pathogen role pathogen role is a role which inheres in an organism and realized in the process of disease course in the organism bearing host role caused by the organism bearing pathogen role 6 April 2009: from the Vaccine Community Pathogen: An agent of disease. A disease producer. The term pathogen most commonly is used to refer to infectious organisms. These include bacteria (such as staph), viruses (such as HIV), and fungi (such as yeast). Less commonly, pathogen refers to a noninfectious agent of disease such as a chemical. http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=6383 OBI GROUP: Role Branch organism disease course metadata complete