Emerging Infectious Diseases and Pandemic Preparedness
Emerging infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness are critical topics in today's world. As we have witnessed in recent times, new diseases can arise unexpectedly and quickly escalate into global health crises, posing a significant threat to public health and society as a whole.
Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) refer to diseases that have either newly appeared in a population or have existed but are rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range. These diseases can be caused by previously unidentified pathogens or by known pathogens that have undergone changes in virulence, drug resistance, or spread to new populations. Examples of EIDs include HIV/AIDS, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika, and the most recent one, COVID-19.