Hospital patients are unusually sensitive to infectious disease, and are exposed to a variety of potential pathogens, including opportunistic pathogens, in the hospital environment. Antibiotic resistance complicates treatment of these infections. Section 22.8 Food and water purity regulations, vector control, immunization, quarantine, disease surveillance, and eradication are public health measures that play a major role in reduction of disease incidence. Compare public measures for controlling infectious disease caused by insect reservoirs, and by human carriers. Section 22.9 Infectious diseases account for over one third of all worldwide mortality.
Most infectious diseases occur in developing countries.
Travelers to endemic disease area should be immunized when possible, and should take appropriate precautions to prevent infection. Contrast mortality due to infectious diseases in developing and developed countries. List a series of infectious diseases for which you have not been immunized, and with which you could come into contact next year. Section 22.10 Emerging and reemerging diseases are a major global concern. Changes in host, vector, or pathogen conditions, whether natural or artificial, can result in conditions that encourage the explosive emergence of certain infectious diseases.