In addition to exposure to germs or pathogens, what other factors influence your risk of getting an infectious disease

Risk factors for infectious diseases:

Having a weak or compromised immune systemTaking medications such as steroids or immuno-suppressantsHaving HIV or AIDSNot being vaccinated against an infectious diseaseHaving cancer or a disorder that weakens the immune systemBeing malnourished

Explanation:

Apart from exposure to germs, certain other factors increase the risk of contracting an infectious disease.

Compromised or Suppressed Immune system:

A compromised or suppressed immune system means that your immune system cannot effectively fight against pathogens. The immune system can either be weak naturally, due to malnourishment, undernourishment or be compromised by certain disorders or medication.Immunosuppressants are drugs that suppress or inactivate the immune system. These are prescribed to patients with auto-immune disorders (a disorder in which the body's own immune system starts attacking the body's own cells and organs).

HIV/AIDS

Since HIV attacks an important component, the T-helper cells of the immune system, HIV positive or AIDS individuals have a weak immune system that lowers their ability to fight diseases.

Not Vaccinated:

Vaccination increases a body's capability to fight deadly infections. Un-vaccinated individuals are at a higher risk of contacting diseases.

Mantle convection  is the slow  creepingmotion of earth's solid silicate  mantle  caused by  convection  currents carrying  heat from the interior  to the planet's surface.[1][2]  the earth's surface  lithosphere, which rides atop the  asthenosphere  (the two components of the  upper mantle), is divided into a number of  plates  that are continuously being created and consumed at their opposite  plate boundaries. accretion occurs as mantle is added to the growing edges of a plate, associated with  seafloor spreading. this hot added material cools down by  conduction  and  convection  of heat. at the consumption edges of the plate, the material has thermally contracted to become dense, and it sinks under its own weight in the process of  subduction  usually at an  ocean trench.[3]this subducted material sinks through the earth's interior. some subducted material appears to reach the lower mantle,[4]  while in other regions, this material is impeded from sinking further, possibly due to a phase transition from  spinel  to  silicate perovskiteand  magnesiowustite, an  endothermic reaction.[5]the subducted oceanic crust triggers  volcanism, although the basic mechanisms are varied. volcanism may occur due to processes that add buoyancy to partially melted mantle causing an upward flow due to a decrease in density of the partial melt.secondary forms of convection that may result in surface volcanism are postulated to occur as a consequence of intraplate extension[6]  and  mantle plumes.[7]it is because the mantle can convect that the  tectonic plates  are able to move around the earth's surface.[8]mantle convection seems to have been much more active during the  hadean  period, resulting in gravitational sorting of heavier molten  iron, and  nickel  elements and  sulphides  in the core, and lighter  silicate minerals  in the  mantle.