Report

The Resistance Phenomenon in Microbes and Infectious Disease Vectors: Implications for Human Health and Strategies for Containment. Workshop Summary

Released:: April 10, 2003
Type:: Workshop Summary
Topics:: Diseases, Global Health, Public Health
Activity:: Forum on Microbial Threats
Board:: Board on Global Health

Note: Workshop Summaries contain the opinion of the presenters, but do NOT reflect the conclusions of the IOM. Learn more about the differences between Workshop Summaries and Consensus Reports.

This report examines our understanding of the relationships among microbes, disease vectors, and human hosts, and explores possible new strategies for meeting the challenge of resistance. The report is a summary of a two-day workshop held by the Forum on Emerging Infections in February 2002.

The resistance topic is timely given current events. The emergence of mysterious new diseases, such as SARS, and the looming threat of bioterrorist attacks remind us of how vulnerable we can be to infectious agents. With advances in medical technologies, we have tamed many former microbial foes, yet with few new antimicrobial agents and vaccines in the pipeline, and rapidly increasing drug resistance among infectious microbes, we teeter on the brink of losing the upperhand in our ongoing struggle against these foes, old and new.

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Other Reports by this Activity

Displaying: 3 of 23 Reports

The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009-H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic: Global Challenges, Global Solutions. Workshop Summary This report summarizes a workshop held in mid-September 2009 on the domestic and international responses to the H1N1 influenza A pandemic.
Released: December 29, 2009
Global Issues in Water, Sanitation, and Health. Workshop Summary Worldwide, over one billion people lack access to an adequate water supply. Recognizing water availability, water quality, and sanitation as fundamental issues underlying infectious disease emergence, the IOM’s Forum on Microbial Threats held a two-day public workshop.
Released: September 25, 2009
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation. A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg. Workshop Summary Dr. Joshua Lederberg – scientist, Nobel laureate, visionary thinker, and friend of the Forum on Microbial Threats – died on February 2, 2008. It was in his honor that the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop on May 20-21, 2008, to examine Dr. Lederberg’s scientific and policy contributions to the marketplace of ideas in the life sciences, medicine, and public policy. The resulting workshop summary, Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation, demonstrates the extent to which conceptual and technological developments have, within a few short years, advanced our collective understanding of the microbiome, microbial genetics, microbial communities, and microbe-host-environment interactions.
Released: April 9, 2009