Crit Care Clin. 2013 Jul;29(3):757-74. doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2013.03.016.
Infections have plagued humans since the beginning of recorded history. Huge segments of the human population were episodically wiped out by epidemic infectious diseases in past centuries. Infection was and is often the final cause of mortality in the debilitated elderly. Substantial ongoing research has been performed to investigate mechanisms, causes, pathogenesis, and therapy for infectious disease. Much of this work has involved the elderly because that group is uniquely predisposed to morbidity and mortality from infection. It is hoped that continued research will result in a decrease in infection morbidity and mortality in elderly.
自有记录历史以来，感染一直困扰着人类。在过去几个世纪中，庞大的人类人口曾被传染病周期性地消灭。在衰弱的老年人中，感染过去和现在常常是死亡的最终原因。为了研究传染病的机制、原因、发病机制和治疗方法，进行了大量的持续研究。这项工作很大一部分涉及老年人，因为老年人特别容易受到感染引起的发病率和死亡率的影响。人们希望持续的研究将减少老年人的感染发病率和死亡率。
