What You Need To Know About Infectious Disease
Disease Threats
Our “war” on infectious microbes has restricted the spread of several pathogens and drastically reduced the burden of human disease. But we are a long way from conquering infectious diseases. They account for about one-quarter of deaths worldwide and in 2015 they caused more than half of the estimated 5.9 million deaths in children under the age of 5. What are some of the most significant microbial threats we face?
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What do you know about infectious disease?
The 1918 influenza pandemic (the so-called “Spanish” flu) is estimated to have killed how many people worldwide?
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Sorry, that’s incorrect.
The 1918 influenza pandemic is estimated to have killed between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide. Many of those deaths were due to the effects of pneumococcal pneumonia, a secondary complication of flu for which no antibiotics existed in 1918.
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Sorry, that’s incorrect.
The 1918 influenza pandemic is estimated to have killed between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide. Many of those deaths were due to the effects of pneumococcal pneumonia, a secondary complication of flu for which no antibiotics existed in 1918.
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Correct!
The 1918 influenza pandemic is estimated to have killed between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide. Many of those deaths were due to the effects of pneumococcal pneumonia, a secondary complication of flu for which no antibiotics existed in 1918.
Infectious Disease Defined
- Contagion
A general term for any disease-causing infectious agent spread by direct or indirect contact.
National Academies
Search the National Academies Press website by selecting one of these related terms.
Source Material
- Antibiotic Resistance: Implications for Global Health and Novel Intervention Strategies (2010)
- The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009-H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic: Global Challenges, Global Solutions—Workshop Summary (2010)
- Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration (2010)
- Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases (2009)
- Vector-Borne Diseases: Understanding the Environmental, Human Health, and Ecological Connections—Workshop Summary (2008)
- Addressing Foodborne Threats to Health: Policies, Practices, and Global Coordination—Workshop Summary (2006)
- The Infectious Etiology of Chronic Diseases: Defining the Relationship, Enhancing the Research, and Mitigating the Effects—Workshop Summary (2004)
