Emerging Infectious Disease

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Emerging Infectious Diseases (translated: spreading or new infectious diseases ) are infectious diseases in humans, the incidence of which has increased in the last few decades or which are likely to occur in the near future.

This happens for various reasons:

  1. New infectious diseases arise as a result of mutations in the genome or the evolution of the pathogen (example: enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli ).
  2. Known pathogens spread to new hosts or geographical areas (examples: bird flu H5N1 , West Nile virus ).
  3. Human interventions change ecosystems and thus create new contact zones with previously isolated germs and changes (sometimes expansion) of the spread of germs or germ carriers. Example: Spread of the Rift Valley Virus in Egypt; this arbovirus is transmitted by mosquitoes whose habitat has been expanded by building a dam.
  4. Known pathogens that have already been successfully combated are becoming important again due to antibiotic resistance (examples: multiple resistance in tuberculosis , methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ) or the collapse of the public health system (examples: diphtheria , whooping cough ).
  5. In the case of some diseases that have not previously been classified as infectious diseases, improved methods for detecting the pathogen allow the actual cause of the disease to be identified (example: Helicobacter pylori ).
  6. In the production of biological weapons and in bio- terrorism , pathogens are also used that previously only played a role in certain population groups (example: tularemia ).

Human activities contribute to the spread of new types of infectious diseases in a variety of ways:

  • When piercing and tattoos that can Hepatitis C virus is transmitted.
  • When cattle dehorned and vaccinated, the bovine leukemia virus BLV was spread by disregarding hygiene rules .
  • Deforestation in Venezuela led to a mouse plague, and mice are probably a reservoir for the guanarito virus, the causative agent of hemorrhagic fever .
  • The use of antibiotics in livestock breeding leads to the establishment of resistant strains.
  • In the context of globalization, pathogens spread faster between the continents.

These novel infectious diseases also are HIV , BSE , SARS , Ebola fever , Marburg fever , monkey pox and COVID-19 expected.

The US agency CDC publishes a journal called Emerging Infectious Diseases .

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