This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (35)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Statistics and Research Methods  • Drug Therapy  • Drug Therapy, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Gail H. Cassell, PhD; John Mekalanos, PhD

JAMA. 2001;285:601-605.

During the past 2 decades, new infectious diseases have appeared and old ones previously thought to be controlled have reemerged. New and reemerging infectious agents will continue to pose serious threats well into the 21st century. The prediction that the threat of infectious disease may not diminish is supported by evidence that infectious agents cause many chronic diseases and cancer of previous unknown etiology. Moreover, the utility of existing antimicrobial agents is rapidly eroding, tipping the balance in favor of multidrug-resistant pathogens, and there appear to be few, if any, new classes of drugs currently in clinical development. The need for research directed toward development of new antibiotics has never been greater. Advances in research technologies and microbial genome sequencing in the past decade have led to identification of a large number of new targets. Functional genomics and integrative biology should validate these targets and provide the best opportunity for developing effective new therapies, improved diagnostic techniques, and better tools to understand host-pathogen interactions.

Author Affiliations: Infectious Disease Research and Clinical Investigation, Eli Lilly & Co, Indianapolis, Ind (Dr Cassell); Departments of Microbiology and Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham (Dr Cassell); and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (Dr Mekalanos).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Eradication of Bacteria in Suspension and Biofilms Using Methylene Blue-Loaded Dynamic Nanoplatforms
Wu et al.
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2009;53:3042-3048.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Selective Inhibitors of Bacterial DNA Adenine Methyltransferases
Mashhoon et al.
J Biomol Screen 2006;11:497-510.
ABSTRACT  

Photodynamic Inactivation of Bacillus Spores, Mediated by Phenothiazinium Dyes
Demidova and Hamblin
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2005;71:6918-6925.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Antibiotic Resistance: What Is the Impact of Agricultural Uses of Antibiotics on Children's Health?
Shea
Pediatrics 2003;112:253-258.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Daptomycin Pharmacokinetics and Safety following Administration of Escalating Doses Once Daily to Healthy Subjects
Dvorchik et al.
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2003;47:1318-1323.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The role of genomics in antimicrobial discovery
Mills
J Antimicrob Chemother 2003;51:749-752.
FULL TEXT