What You Need To Know About Infectious Disease
Prevention & Treatment
International Cooperation
National borders are trivial impediments to infectious disease threats. In the highly interconnected and readily traversed global village of our time, one nation’s problem soon becomes every nation’s problem. Therefore, strategies must be implemented worldwide, not just nationally, in order to have a true impact.
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What do you know about infectious disease?
True or False: If you have a cold or the flu, taking antibiotics will help treat the infection.
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Sorry, that’s incorrect.
Antibiotics only work on bacterial infections, not viral infections such as influenza and the common cold. In fact, inappropriate use and overuse of antibiotics contributes to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria.
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Correct!
Antibiotics only work on bacterial infections, not viral infections such as influenza and the common cold. In fact, inappropriate use and overuse of antibiotics contributes to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria.
Infectious Disease Defined
- Morbidity
The relative occurrence of a disease or a condition that causes illness.
National Academies
Search the National Academies Press website by selecting one of these related terms.
Source Material
- Infectious Disease Movement in a Borderless World—Workshop Summary (2010)
- Global Issues in Water, Sanitation, and Health—Workshop Summary (2009)
- Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases (2009)
- The U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the Public and Private Sectors (2009)
- Achieving Sustainable Global Capacity for Surveillance and Response to Emerging Diseases of Zoonotic Origin—Workshop Summary (2008)
- Global Infectious Disease Surveillance and Detection: Assessing the Challenges, Finding Solutions—Workshop Summary (2007)
- Saving Lives, Buying Time: Economics of Malaria Drugs in an Age of Resistance (2004)
