Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases: A Narrative Review

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a surge in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases posing a significant threat to global health and social security. A review of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases was conducted to determine their transmission dynamics and impact on public health. The literature review used major databases (google, PubMed, ScienceDirect, ResearchGate, among others). Articles published on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases generated from the search terms and phrases were reviewed and relevant ones were included in the review. Our review found that COVID-19, Ebola, Zika, Lassa fever, Avian influenza and monkeypox were among the major emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in the past decade. The emergence of Severe Acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) in 2019 stood out because of its pandemic level. COVID-19 has had a profound global impact on individuals, communities, countries, and health systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries.  Some of the key factors found to have contributed to the emergence or re-emergence of these diseases were climate change, globalization, urbanization, increased animal-human interface, increased conflicts resulting in migration, and disruption of communities and health systems. Global collaboration in addressing the threats of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in the past decade highlighted the importance of proactive measures and emergency preparedness in mitigating the impact of future outbreaks of any infectious threat thus ensuring the maintenance of global health security.