INFECTIOUS-DISEASES IN THE 21ST-CENTURY

Infectocontagious diseases in the twenty-first century with respect to precedent will see themselves deprived of smallpox, dracunculiasis an d very probably of paralyzing poliomyelitis. Vaccination-preventable d iseases, such as measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, rabies, some forms of meningitis, yellow fever and episodes of disseminated t uberculosis will greatly diminish in their rates of morbilethality; th e elimination of some, and the eradication of measles, are expected. O ther diseases such as diarrhea (including cholera), geohelminthiasis, some severe respiratory tract infections and the majority of vector-tr ansmitted infectious diseases will decrease due to improvements in pot able water services, drainage, sanitary food control, living quarters, and individual and community anti-vector action. Leprosy, onchocercia sis and several parasitoses will be controlled by the available antimi crobial drugs. Infectious diseases will continue to be an important he alth problem due to: Reduction in the immunocompetence resulting from the aging of the population, chemotherapies necessary for neoplasms, a nd autoimmune pathology and the survival of persons with primary immun odeficiencies; lifestyles prone to infectious pathology, such as megac ity urbanization, children in day care centers, industrialized foods, intravenous drug addiction, sexual liberation, global commerce, and to urism; antibiotic-multiresistant microbial flora; environmental distur bances as a result of global warming, deforestation, the settling of v irgin areas, dams, the large-scale use of pesticides, fertilizers and antimicrobials, and natural/social disasters generators of poverty, vi olence and deprivation will result in emergence or reemergence of infe ctious diseases already controlled in the past.