NIAID scientists consider 200 years of infectious diseases

The authors look back to the 1799 death, likely from bacterial epiglottitis, of President George Washington and note that "no one alive then could have imagined the astonishing breakthroughs that lay ahead." Among these was the idea that identifiable microbes lead to specific illnesses, an insight that opened the way to more accurate diagnoses, a host of antibacterial and antiviral drugs and a tool—vaccination—to prevent many infections altogether. Combined, these interventions have saved hundreds of millions of lives and lessened the burden of human suffering, the authors note.

Laudable successes—such as the elimination of smallpox—are, however, balanced against the inevitable emergence of newer pathogens, such as HIV, that can sweep the globe and devastate societies, observe the authors. This tug-of-war between constantly evolving microbes and the human ingenuity required to address newly emerging illnesses makes for the perpetual challenge of infectious diseases. Efforts to address this challenge, they write, "are driven by the necessity of expecting the unexpected and being prepared to respond when the unexpected occurs."

More information: AS Fauci and DM Morens. The perpetual challenge of infectious diseases. New England Journal of Medicine DOI:10.1056/NEJMra1108296 (2012).

Journal reference: New England Journal of Medicine

Provided by National Institutes of Health