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The changing face of pathogen discovery and surveillance

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 11, pages 133–141 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The pace of pathogen discovery is rapidly accelerating. This reflects not only factors that enable the appearance and globalization of new microbial infections, but also improvements in methods for ascertaining the cause of a new disease. Innovative molecular diagnostic platforms, investments in pathogen surveillance (in wildlife, domestic animals and humans) and the advent of social media tools that mine the World Wide Web for clues indicating the occurrence of infectious-disease outbreaks are all proving to be invaluable for the early recognition of threats to public health. In addition, models of microbial pathogenesis are becoming more complex, providing insights into the mechanisms by which microorganisms can contribute to chronic illnesses like cancer, peptic ulcer disease and mental illness. Here, I review the factors that contribute to infectious-disease emergence, as well as strategies for addressing the challenges of pathogen surveillance and discovery.

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Figure 1: Hot spots of outbreaks for recently emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

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  • 07 January 2013

    The definition for InSTEDD was corrected to Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks N. Akpan for assistance with the manuscript; P. Daszak, W. Karesh, C. Firth, M. Hornig and E. Holmes for thoughtful comments; and the US National Institutes of Health (grant AI57158), the US Agency for International Development (the PREDICT programme) and the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency for financial support.

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  1. W. Ian Lipkin is at the Center for Infection and Immunity, Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA,

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Lipkin, W. The changing face of pathogen discovery and surveillance. Nat Rev Microbiol 11, 133–141 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2949

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