Tales from the gene pool: a genomic view of infectious disease
Karen Honey
Karen Honey
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Review Series

Tales from the gene pool: a genomic view of infectious disease

Abstract

Research into the pathogenesis, prevention, and control of infectious and parasitic diseases remains a global priority, as these scourges continue to be a substantial cause of mortality and morbidity. The plethora of molecular tools that are now readily available has facilitated a genome-wide approach to studying the pathogenesis of such diseases, with direct implications for disease prevention and treatment. The articles in this Review Series describe how genome-wide approaches have provided insight into a range of human pathogens, leading to greater understanding of the human diseases that they cause, and highlight some of the challenges that must be overcome if we are to maximize what we learn from the wealth of genomic information now available.

Authors

Karen Honey

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Figure 1

The 2004 worldwide ten leading causes of death and ten leading causes of death from infectious and parasitic diseases.

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The 2004 worldwide ten leading causes of death and ten leading causes of...
The global burden of disease: 2004 update, published by the WHO in 2008 (1), provides estimates of mortality and burden of disease by cause for all regions of the world in 2004. The data in this publication, which were used to generate this figure, indicate that infectious and parasitic diseases were the second leading cause of death in the world in 2004, after cardiovascular diseases. Specifically, approximately 17 million and 9.5 million deaths were a result of cardiovascular diseases and infectious and parasitic diseases, respectively. Among those who died of infectious and parasitic diseases, diarrheal diseases were the leading cause of death, closely followed by HIV/AIDS. *These numbers exclude deaths from liver cancer and cirrhosis resulting from chronic HBV infection.