Infectious Diseases

This volume on Infectious Diseases in an Encyclopedia of Sustainability  Science and Technology (ESST) addresses the needs of health care  providers and policy makers as well as scientists and engineers.  Most  of chapters in this volume deal with infectious diseases that directly  affect humans, including the detailed characterization of specific  pathogens, how they reproduce, how they are transmitted, and the means  available to control, eliminate, or eradicate them.

In this  revised and updated second edition, the number of human infectious  diseases covered has been significantly expanded. Other new chapters  deal with current leading edge technologies for the diagnosis of  pathogens; surveillance including environmental and syndromic  surveillance for pathogens; requirements for quality assurance, quality  control and the need for biological standards and controls to sustain  high quality diagnosis and surveillance; the use of big data for  personalized medicine; modeling infectious diseases; zoonotic and vector  borne diseases; disease prevention with antibiotics, antivirals and  vaccines; and factors that affect ecological balances leading to  emergence of new diseases such as climate change and deforestation.  Finally, infectious diseases that affect livestock and culture of plants  for food, comfort and beauty are also addressed, since we must also  consider them when discussing sustainability of humans in our ecosystem.