Forum on Microbial Threats, Board on Global Health, Institute of Medicine, "Ending the War Metaphor"
National Academies Press | June 23, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0309096014 | 306 pages | PDF | 6.9 MB
National Academies Press | June 23, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0309096014 | 306 pages | PDF | 6.9 MB
Infectious diseases have existed longer than us, as long as us, or are relatively newer than us. It may be the case that a disease has existed for many, many years but has only recently begun affecting humans. At the turn of the century the number of deaths caused by infections in the United States had been falling steadily but since the '80s has seen an increase. In the past 30 years alone 37 new pathogens have been identified as human disease threats and 12% of known human pathogens have been classified as either emerging or remerging. Whatever the story, there is currently a "war" on infectious diseases. This war is simply the systematic search for the microbial "cause" of each disease, followed by the development of antimicrobial therapies.
