Emerging infections you should know about and how to prevent them

"It's been more than 10 years since the 2014 Ebola epidemic, when the often-fatal viral infection spread from remote villages in Central Africa, leading to the world's largest outbreak since the virus' 1976 discovery. Today, we may be less prepared than we previously were for emerging infectious disease outbreaks, said Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an internal medicine expert who specializes in infectious disease, during her presentation at the annual IDWeek conference for professionals and students in the field."

"While diagnostic technology and surveillance methods have improved to catch more of these emerging diseases, climate trends, increased human-animal interaction, global travel, and antibiotic resistance - when germs evade antibiotics, thereby making infections, complications from routine surgeries, and cancers more difficult to treat- have contributed to harder-to-treat and more easily spread infections, Kuppalli said during her IDWeek presentation on emerging infectious diseases."

More than ten years after the 2014 Ebola epidemic, global preparedness for emerging infectious diseases has lessened. Innovations in vaccines and diagnostics coexist with a growing number of novel or re-emerging infections such as antibiotic-resistant E. coli, dengue fever, and Candida auris. The World Health Organization defines emerging infectious diseases as novel infections or re-emerging ones that spread rapidly by case count or geographic expansion. Improved diagnostics and surveillance uncover more threats, but climate trends, increased human-animal interaction, global travel, and antibiotic resistance have made infections harder to treat and easier to spread. Preventive funding declined after the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing sustained preparedness.

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