Natural reservoir
A LIVING HOST, SUCH AS AN ANIMAL OR A PLANT, INSIDE OF WHICH AN INFECTIOUS PATHOGEN NATURALLY LIVES AND REPRODUCES
Natural host; Infection reservoir; Natural reservoirs; Reservoir of infection; Reservoir host; Reservoir species; Animal reservoir; Reservoir (epidemiology)
In infectious disease ecology and epidemiology, a natural reservoir, also known as a disease reservoir or a reservoir of infection, is the population of organisms or the specific environment in which an infectious pathogen naturally lives and reproduces, or upon which the pathogen primarily depends for its survival. A reservoir is usually a living host of a certain species, such as an animal or a plant, inside of which a pathogen survives, often (though not always) without causing disease for the reservoir itself.