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PubMed2006

Evidence for the role of infectious disease in species extinction and endangerment.

Infectious disease is listed among the top five causes of global species extinctions. However, the majority of available data supporting this contention is largely anecdotal. We used the IUCN Red List of Threatened and Endangered Species and literature indexed in the ISI Web of Science to assess the role of infectious disease in global species loss. Infectious disease was listed as a contributing factor in <4% of species extinctions known to have occurred since 1500 (833 plants and animals) and as contributing to a species' status as critically endangered in <8% of cases (2,852 critically endangered plants and animals). Although infectious diseases appear to play a minor role in global species loss, our findings underscore two important limitations in the available evidence: uncertainty surrounding the threats to species survival and a temporal bias in the data. Several initiatives could help overcome these obstacles, including rigorous scientific tests to determine which infectious diseases present a significant threat at the species level, recognition of the limitations associated with the lack of baseline data for the role of infectious disease in species extinctions, combining data with theory to discern the circumstances under which infectious disease is most likely to serve as an agent of extinction, and improving surveillance programs for the detection of infectious disease. An evidence-based understanding of the role of infectious disease in species extinction and endangerment will help prioritize conservation initiatives and protect global biodiversity.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

History of the specialty of infectious diseases in the United States.

Infectious diseases in the United States were for generations so integral to health and medicine that a special interest in the field, except for investigative purposes, could hardly be contemplated. With declining mortality and morbidity from infections, and the advent of major antimicrobial drugs, interest in infectious disease flagged in clinical and microbiological departments. Several factors have caused a new interest in infectious disease, including the appearance of newly recognized infectious disease syndromes; advances in microbiologic, immunologic, virologic, and epidemiologic understanding; increased societal interest; proliferation of effective therapeutic and preventive agents; and the general thrust toward specialization. This interest led to the formation of societies, subspecialty boards, and journals, and accounts for the prominence of infectious disease in clinical departments and in national thought. Similar developments are taking place at various rates in other countries, with renewed attention to the toll of infectious diseases in developing countries.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗