BACKGROUND Human malaria is caused by five species of the Plasmodium protozoan parasites: P. falciparum , P. vivax , P. ovale , P. malariae , and P. knowlesi . Malaria caused by these protozoan parasites occupies a remarkable place in…
INTRODUCTION Lyme disease was described as a separate entity in 1976 because of the geographic clustering of a group of children with arthritis in Lyme, Connecticut, who originally were diagnosed as having juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The rural setting of the…
INTRODUCTION Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, is the leading recognized cause of childhood encephalitis in Asia. Although safe and effective vaccines are available, several thousand cases of Japanese encephalitis (JE) are reported annually. Because JE is not under…
Influenza viruses cause recurrent and widespread disease in humans. Vaccination is the most effective means of preventing influenza infection. The use of inactivated influenza virus vaccine (IIV) in humans has been the subject of numerous studies, with an emphasis on…
HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE History of the Disease and Vaccines Influenza is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, occurring in annual epidemics and occasional global pandemics. Five global pandemics of influenza with high attack rates have been well described,…
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, which are very common, produce epithelial lesions of the nongenital and genital skin and mucous membranes. Although most infections are benign and self-limited, persistent infection by a subset of the more than 200 HPV genotypes (types)…
In 1981, the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized in humans as an outbreak of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia among gay men in the United States, , having spread from Africa to Haiti to the United States, and then globally.…
“O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream, Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues….” William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet , Act 1, Scene 4, p. 4 More than 2500 years ago Hippocrates used the Greek term herpes ,…
Hepatitis E was not recognized as a distinct disease until 1980, when waterborne epidemics of hepatitis in India, previously thought to have been caused by hepatitis A virus (HAV), were shown to have occurred in persons who were already immune…
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, 58 million people are chronically infected with HCV worldwide, and approximately 400,000 people die each year from HCV-related liver diseases. Importantly,…