ABSTRACT
CONTENTS 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Fear of the Microorganisms and Response .............................................. 3 1.3 Antimicrobials ............................................................................................... 5 1.4 Host-Parasite Relationship ......................................................................... 6 1.5 Infectious Disease Challenges..................................................................... 7
1.5.1 Infectious Disease Emergence Factors........................................... 8 1.5.2 Food-Borne Diseases and Contributing Factors .......................... 9 1.5.3 Human Behavioral Changes ......................................................... 10 1.5.4 Industrialization and Technological Advancements ................ 11 1.5.5 Travel and Commerce.................................................................... 11 1.5.6 Prevention and Control ................................................................. 11
1.6 Antimicrobial Drug Resistance................................................................. 12 1.7 Nosocomial Infection and Related Issues............................................... 13
1.7.1 Initiatives in Hand Hygiene.......................................................... 14 1.7.2 Device-Related Infections .............................................................. 15
1.7.2.1 Orthopedic Implant Infections ...................................... 16 1.7.2.2 Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection .............. 16
1.8 Regulatory Constraints .............................................................................. 17 1.9 Concluding Remarks.................................................................................. 17 References ............................................................................................................. 19
Emerging infectious diseases have long loomed like a black shadow over the human race and have successfully wiped out portions of it. People and pathogens have a long history of going hand in hand. It is not surprising
that infections have been detected in the bones of human ancestors more than a million years old. Evidence from the mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V suggested that smallpox infection might have caused his death. Similarly, widespread outbreaks of disease and their impact on the human race are also well documented from ancient literature to current Web sites. Between 1347 and 1351, roughly one-third of the population of medieval Europe was wiped out by the bubonic plague. In 1875, the son of a Fijian chief was afflicted with measles after a ceremonial trip to Australia. More than 20,000 Fijians died from this imported disease within four months following his return home [1].
