EDITORIAL: EMERGING INFECTIONS IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES; WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

An emerging infectious disease is one that is found in a human population for the first time or that has recently expanded into a new geographical location.1 It also refers to a known pathogen newly appearing in resistant form.1 The majority of these infections are zoonotic in nature and tend to emerge following the complex interactions between pathogens, their host (human or animal) and the environment.2 All these actors largely exist in equilibrium in nature until this delicate balance is upset leading to the emergence of new infectious diseases from time to time.