Emerging infectious disease

[2][3] The minority that are capable of developing efficient transmission between humans can become major public and global concerns as potential causes of epidemics or pandemics.

EIDs may also result from spread of an existing disease to a new population in a different geographic region, as occurs with West Nile fever outbreaks.

[12] Nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are emerging in hospitals, and are extremely problematic in that they are resistant to many antibiotics.

[13] Of growing concern are adverse synergistic interactions between emerging diseases and other infectious and non-infectious conditions leading to the development of novel syndemics.

If for the present we retain a basic optimism and assume no major catastrophes occur [...] the most likely forecast about the future of infectious disease is that it will be very dull.

There may be some wholly unexpected emergence of a new and dangerous infectious disease, but nothing of the sort has marked the past fifty years.The concept gained more interest at the end of the 1980s as a reaction to the AIDS epidemic.

Although this view was disputed by virologists and many specialists in infectious diseases, it had become a commonplace to suggest that infectious diseases were about to become a thing of the past [...].As a direct consequence of the 1989 conference on emerging viruses, the Institute Of Medicine convened in February 1991 the 19-member multidisciplinary Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health, co-chaired by Joshua Lederberg and Robert Shope, to conduct an 18-month study.

According to the report produced by the committee in 1992,[26] its charge "was to identify significant emerging infectious diseases, determine what might be done to deal with them, and recommend how similar future threats might be confronted to lessen their impact on public health."

It can also help to describe the natural history of a disease, identify factors responsible for emergence, facilitate laboratory and epidemiological research, and assess the success of specific intervention efforts.The proposed interventions were based on the following: the U.S. public health system, research and training, vaccine and drug development, vector control, public education and behavioral change.

In response, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation was launched at the World Economic Forum in 2017 with the objective of accelerating the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases to be able to offer them to affected populations during outbreaks.

[41][42] Human population growth, increased proximity to wildlife, and climate change have created favorable conditions for the transmission of zoonotic diseases, leading to outbreaks such as Zika, Ebola, and COVID-19.

Understanding the mechanisms of transmission, the role of wildlife trade, and the importance of surveillance and early detection is crucial for mitigating the impact of zoonotic diseases on human health.

Surveillance efforts involving wastewater have been identified as valuable tools for detecting early warning signs of disease emergence and providing timely interventions.

[59] Through genetic mapping of various strains of MRSA, scientists have found that MSSA acquired the mecA gene in the 1960s, which accounts for its pathogenicity, before this it had a predominantly commensal relationship with humans.

When S. aureus came into contact with these populations, the multiple genes that code for antibiotic resistance to different drugs were then acquired by MRSA, making it nearly impossible to control.

When Anthony Fauci became director of the NIAID , he drew a map of the world for presentation at a congressional hearing that showed a single notable emerging infectious disease threat: HIV. Since then, he has continually updated the map, now showing the emergence of numerous infectious disease threats to illustrate the experiences of his years in office as well as highlighting certain infections that had emerged before HIV. [ 1 ]
Throughout the 20th century until 1980, with the exception of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the death rate from infectious diseases in the United States was steadily decreasing. However, because of the AIDS epidemic, the death rate from infectious diseases increased by 58% between 1980 and 1992.