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Review
. 2004 Jul 8;430(6996):242-9.
doi: 10.1038/nature02759.

The challenge of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases

David M Morens  1 , Gregory K Folkers, Anthony S Fauci
Affiliations
Review

The challenge of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases

David M Morens et al. Nature. .

Erratum in

  • Nature. 2010 Jan 7;463(7277):122

Abstract

Infectious diseases have for centuries ranked with wars and famine as major challenges to human progress and survival. They remain among the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Against a constant background of established infections, epidemics of new and old infectious diseases periodically emerge, greatly magnifying the global burden of infections. Studies of these emerging infections reveal the evolutionary properties of pathogenic microorganisms and the dynamic relationships between microorganisms, their hosts and the environment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Global examples of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, some of which are discussed in the main text.
Red represents newly emerging diseases; blue, re-emerging/resurging diseases; black, a ‘deliberately emerging’ disease. Adapted, with permission, from ref. .
Figure 2
Figure 2. Leading causes of death worldwide.
About 15 million (>25%) of 57 million annual deaths worldwide are the direct result of infectious disease. Figures published by the World Health Organization (see http://www.who.int/whr/en and ref. 7).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Probable cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) with onset of illness from 1 November 2002 to 31 July 2003.
Cases are given by country. SARS-related deaths are indicated in parentheses. A total of 8,096 cases (and 774 deaths) are presented. Figures published by the World Health Organization (see http://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/en).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Documented human infections with avian influenza viruses, 1997–2004.
Sporadic cases of mild human illness associated with avian influenza viruses were reported before 1997. See http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/en and ref. .
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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