Editorial: Infectious diseases (ID) - post-pandemic advances

MARÍA DE LAS MERCEDES PESCARETTI; FABIAN E. LOPEZ; MÓNICA A. DELGADO

Frontiers in Microbiology

Frontiers Media S.A.

Año: 2023

1664-302X

Editorial: Infectious diseases (ID) -post-pandemic advancesMaría de las Mercedes Pescaretti1*, Fabián E. Lopez2* and Mónica A. Delgado1*1Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas, CONICET-UNT, Instituto de Química Biológica “Dr. Bernabé Bloj”, Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia, UNT, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, 2Departmento of Natural Sciences School-Universidad Nacional de Chilecito, Chilecito, La Rioja, ArgentinaKEYWORDS infectious diseases, post-pandemic COVID-19, bacterial, viruses, vaccines Infectious diseases (ID) are disorders caused by microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites) living inside or outside of our bodies and are vital for the body functions. During colonization, important interactions between microorganisms and host take place. Depending on the host’s immune response and on the microorganism‘s inoculum and genetic factors, some microorganisms can become pathogenic. These IDs can be transmitted directly (person-to-person contact) or indirectly (contact with contaminated surfaces, insect bites, or by contaminated food and water consumption). Taking in account the source and contamination levels, an ID can appear in a specific geographical area and time (epidemic); can be present permanently in a population (endemic diseases), or can be spread rapidly to several regions, countries and continents (pandemic). Some ID cause symptoms that can regularly be overcome, while other ID are life-threatening and may require hospitalization, increasing healthcare costs.