Produced or originating from outside an organism; caused by external factors rather than internal ones.
From Greek 'ekto-' (outside) + 'genos' (origin, birth) + '-ous' (full of). This term parallels 'endogenous' to describe the opposite phenomenon—conditions arising from environmental rather than genetic sources.
A disease can be either endogenous (your body caused it) or ectogeneous (something in your environment caused it)—understanding the difference determines whether you treat the person or change their environment.
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