Latent period

[rj23]

Hey can anybody explain what is meant by latent period. I couldnt understand the concept. the way uworld explained was like i am reading chinese.

[datson]

Latent period is the time between point of contact and point of infectiousness.
In contrast, incubation period is the time between point of contact and point when symptoms begin to appear.
So for example say in measles, a person is infectious 4 days before the rash and a couple of days before Koplik spots appear. This makes latent period shorter than incubation period because the person is infectious before showing any symptoms of the disease.