Reemergence of Established Pathogens in the 21st Century PDF

Edited by I.W. Fong, Karl Drlica

Part of the Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century series

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Description

In the closing decade of the last century, we saw warnings that infectious diseases will require much more attention from patients and physicians in the 21 st century.

Recently d- covered diseases such as AIDS pose a major threat to the population at large, and to that threat has been added the re-emergence of established pathogens, microbes that were re- ily treatable in the past.

Since infectious diseases already play a major role in the burden of illness and mortality, health care providers and planners are worried.

A large proportion of the problem is man-made, arising mainly from the unnecessary overuse of antimicrobials in hospital and community settings and from the agricultural misuse of the agents in animal feed.

A consequence has been a dramatic increase in resi- ant strains of bacteria that were considered conquerable several decades ago.

Community infections caused by multi-resistant pneumococci serve as an example.

These organisms were readily treated with penicillin, but now the spread of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae from continent to continent is becoming a worldwide problem.

This is a major concern because pneumococcal infections are common in the community, being the le- ing cause of pneumonia, sinusitis, and meningitis.

Resistant bacteria in hospitals are also becoming more prevalent.

We have become accustomed to hearing about methicill- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), but now we have to be concerned about multidrug-resistant coliform bacteria and pseudomonads.