1,415 species of organisms known to be pathogenic to humans

[Guest guest]

A literature review by Cleaveland and colleagues (2001) identified

1,415 species of organisms known to be pathogenic to humans,

including 538 bacteria and rickettsia and 307 fungi, and according

to Rappuoli (2004), " dozens of new infectious diseases are expected

to emerge in the coming decade. " Viruses, particularly RNA viruses,

seem to emerge most rapidly. In this context, Lederberg (2000)

stresses the need to understand evolutionary strategies of

pathogenic microbes that facilitate their re-emergence and the

emergence of new, unknown pathogens due to their rapid reproduction

and enormous potential for genetic variation. Mutation, genetic

variation, recombination and horizontal gene transfer of pathogenic

islands are keys to the evolution of pathogens (Hacker & Carniel,

2001), which still have to be understood.

EMBO reports 6, 7, 600–605 (2005)

doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400472

http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v6/n7/full/7400472.html;jsessioni

d=10F3BD99AD838C1C009F7D252EAF95DA

Future trends and challenges in pathogenomics

A Foresight study

Sven Pompe1, Judith Simon1, M. Wiedemann1 & Christof Tannert2

1 Sven Pompe (top left), Judith Simon and M. Wiedemann (bottom

left) are at the Research Center Jülich, Germany.

2 Christof Tannert is at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular

Medicine in Berlin, Germany.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed

Sven Pompe pompe@...

The difficult thing about the future is that it is so hard to

predict. After the Second World War, the availability of vaccines

and antibiotics and the successes of improved hygiene and public

health policies led to such a dramatic fall in mortality that in

1969 the US Surgeon General claimed that " we can close the book on

infectious diseases. " In hindsight, his prediction of the future was

utterly wrong—infectious diseases are back with a vengeance. Nearly

25% of the annual deaths worldwide are directly related to pathogens

(Morens et al, 2004); multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS

are on the rise worldwide; and Staphylococcus and Enterococcus

strains in Western hospitals are becoming increasingly resistant to

antibiotics. In addition, the rapid spread of new pathogens, such as

the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and West Nile viruses,

has shown the frailty of global public health, which is further

affected by tourism and trade. Experts in security and public health

also worry that publicly available scientific information and

advanced genetic technologies could be misused to create weapons for

bioterrorism.

....trends and developments in basic research have to be put into

context with current and future challenges for public health

To overcome these threats to human health, research on pathogenic

microbes and the development of new diagnostics, vaccines and

therapeutic strategies remains an important task at the beginning of

the twenty-first century. It is in this context that we conducted

our Foresight study, 'Future Trends and Challenges in

Pathogenomics', as part of the EU-funded ERA-NET project

PathoGenoMics, to provide an overview of current and future trends

and challenges in the field of genomic research on pathogenic

microorganisms. Clearly, a Foresight study is not a crystal ball to

peek into the future, but it does allow the identification of

important trends in science, as well as perceived gaps in research,

and places them in the context of future challenges for public

health....................