Definitions

Infectious diseases have been an ever-present threat to mankind. From the Biblical plagues and the Plague of Athens in ancient times, to the Black Death of the Middle Ages, the 1918 “Spanish Flu ” pandemic, and more recently, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, infectious diseases have continued to emerge and re-emerge in a manner that defies accurate predictions. About 15 million (more than 25 %) of the 57 million deaths worldwide are estimated to be related directly to infectious diseases1