In the closing decade of the last century, we saw warnings that infectious diseases will require much more attention from patients and physicians in the 21 st century. Recently d- covered diseases such as AIDS pose a major threat to the population at large, and to that threat has been added the re-e...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben

Weitere Verfasser:	Fong, I. W. (HerausgeberIn), Drlica, Karl (HerausgeberIn)
Format:	Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:	English
Veröffentlicht:	Boston, MA Springer US 2003
Schriftenreihe:	Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century
Schlagworte:	Infectious Diseases Immunology Medical Microbiology Cardiology Emerging infectious diseases Microbiology
Online-Zugang:	UBR01 Volltext
Zusammenfassung:	In the closing decade of the last century, we saw warnings that infectious diseases will require much more attention from patients and physicians in the 21 st century. Recently d- covered diseases such as AIDS pose a major threat to the population at large, and to that threat has been added the re-emergence of established pathogens, microbes that were re- ily treatable in the past. Since infectious diseases already play a major role in the burden of illness and mortality, health care providers and planners are worried. A large proportion of the problem is man-made, arising mainly from the unnecessary overuse of antimicrobials in hospital and community settings and from the agricultural misuse of the agents in animal feed. A consequence has been a dramatic increase in resi- ant strains of bacteria that were considered conquerable several decades ago. Community infections caused by multi-resistant pneumococci serve as an example. These organisms were readily treated with penicillin, but now the spread of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae from continent to continent is becoming a worldwide problem. This is a major concern because pneumococcal infections are common in the community, being the le- ing cause of pneumonia, sinusitis, and meningitis. Resistant bacteria in hospitals are also becoming more prevalent. We have become accustomed to hearing about methicill- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), but now we have to be concerned about multidrug-resistant coliform bacteria and pseudomonads
Beschreibung:	1 Online-Ressource (XVI, 367 p)
ISBN:	9780306484117
DOI:	10.1007/b100517