CSI Microbiology: Emerging Pathogens and a Staged Strategy for Detection and Discovery

The changing landscape of infectious dis-eases over the past 2 decades has as-tounded the medical community and the public. Emerging pathogens that cause new diseases (e.g., severe acute respira-tory syndrome–associated coronavirus [SARS-CoV]), newly recognized micro-bial agents of known diseases (e.g., hu-man metapneumovirus), and rapidly evolving pathogens (e.g., influenza vi-ruses) all contribute to this seismic shift. A rate-limiting factor in our efforts to keep up with diseases caused by infectious pathogens is the absence of rapid, effi-cient, and affordable methods for micro