Definition of "infect"

Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.

2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193

Ms. Tang’s inevitable contact with people who are ill has started to worry her. It did not help when she learned that someone living in a building near her own, in Siu Sai Wan, had been infected by the virus.

2020 February 18, Isabella Kwai, “How a Pharmacy Handles Mask Hoarders and Coronavirus Fears”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 2020-02-18, Asia Pacific‎

Guido, by way of diverting the embarrassment which seemed to infect them all, began to unfasten the packet of letters.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 164

And in the imitation of these twain, / Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns / With an imperial voice, many are infect.

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iii], line 187