Emerging Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases (EID) are defined as infectious diseases that are newly recognized in a population or have existed but are rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range. Simply put, they may be new infections resulting from changes or evolution of existing organisms, known infections spreading to new geographic areas or populations, previously unrecognized infections appearing in areas undergoing ecologic transformation, or old infections reemerging because of antimicrobial resistance in known agents or breakdowns in public health measures.1, 2 Emerging infections account for at least 15% of all human pathogens according to the 10th International Conference on EID.3 A major concern is the synergistic communication between emerging diseases and other infectious and noninfectious conditions.