Emerging infectious diseases

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) cause a significant burden on the global economies and are a major public health problem in many countries. The incidence of EID has increased dramatically in recent years, mainly due to zoonotic infections.

 Sri Lanka has also been significantly affected by EIDs such as dengue, chikungunya and antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. Diseases such as leptospirosis, which have been present for many decades in Sri Lanka are now causing significant public health problems and have been associated with very high mortality. In addition, infections due to the avian influenza A (H5N1) strain, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus and the Nipah virus are some of the pathogens which have a potential of causing severe epidemics in Sri Lanka in the future.

As it is beyond the scope of this review to discuss all the current EIDs, it will mainly concentrate on EIDs that have recently caused major public health problems in Sri Lanka and also those that have a possibility of causing major epidemics.