Contents

## **Preface XI**



Preface

In spite of development in public health, medicine, and expertise, infectious diseases remain a foremost source of illness and death globally. Characteristic of infection is the incursion of host mechanism by infectious pathogens. The connection of pathogens with disease is a complex process which may require long time to be understood and answered. One of the most destructive epidemics in the last century occurred in 1918 when influenza pandemic broke, resulting in deaths of millions in less than a year. Similarly, HIV infection is causing continuous disaster affecting ~34 million people and causing ~13.9 million deaths. These ex‐ amples display the fright of infectious disease unpredictability and their reemergence.

Pathogens hijack the synchronized metabolic activities and use host factors as substrate for the process of their multiplication and flourishment. Not only pathogens, but their products like proteins and secreted toxins, damage host tissues. Infectious diseases are the outcome of the described process; they are transmissible diseases and can jump from one host to anoth‐ er with the help of vectors; biological vectors (low vertebrates, insects, avians, etc.) or physi‐ cal vectors (air, water soil, fomites, etc). Infectious agents are microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, nematodes, fungi and macro parasites. Discovery of disease-causing patho‐ gens is medically and clinically important. Infectious diseases on onset display various symptoms of illness resulting into severe from the infection, morbidity and sometimes fatali‐ ty also gets reported. Infectious diseases continue to be foundation for more risky and fatal health threats globally, giving serious challenges to the scientific community to control, cure

Majority of infectious diseases attack immune compromised hosts like infants, old aged and sick people. They cause fatal epidemics with huge extent and severity, emergence and ree‐ mergence, reassortment and destroy economies globally. Research activities report that in‐ fectious diseases like influenza, Japanese encephalitis, measles, hepatitis, cholera, dysentery, TB, typhoid fever, yellow fever, and malaria have been spine breaking for economy. Novel technologies and for molecular characterization of pathogens and studying their morpholo‐ gy, genome, epidemiology, serology and advancement in vaccines development, are neces‐ sary to eradicate the pathogens effectively. These problems can be controlled only by timely

The need of the hour is to efficiently combat infectious disease which requires onerous and combinatorial efforts between individuals, researchers, analysts, drug developers and fund‐ ing agencies. Lack of specific vaccines and therapeutics increases the risk potential of infec‐ tious disease, hence the development of effective therapeutics and strategies is extremely urgent. Disease control may be enhanced by improvements in prevention, sanitation and hygiene. Introduction of vaccination, antibiotics, other antimicrobial medicines, technologi‐

and prevent them from causing diabolical effects on human race.

diagnosis and control measures.
