Kass E H
Ann Intern Med. 1987 May;106(5):745-56. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-106-5-745.
Infectious diseases in the United States were for generations so integral to health and medicine that a special interest in the field, except for investigative purposes, could hardly be contemplated. With declining mortality and morbidity from infections, and the advent of major antimicrobial drugs, interest in infectious disease flagged in clinical and microbiological departments. Several factors have caused a new interest in infectious disease, including the appearance of newly recognized infectious disease syndromes; advances in microbiologic, immunologic, virologic, and epidemiologic understanding; increased societal interest; proliferation of effective therapeutic and preventive agents; and the general thrust toward specialization. This interest led to the formation of societies, subspecialty boards, and journals, and accounts for the prominence of infectious disease in clinical departments and in national thought. Similar developments are taking place at various rates in other countries, with renewed attention to the toll of infectious diseases in developing countries.
在美国，传染病长期以来一直是健康和医学的重要组成部分，以至于除了研究目的之外，几乎无法想象对该领域有特别的兴趣。随着感染导致的死亡率和发病率下降，以及主要抗菌药物的出现，临床和微生物学部门对传染病的兴趣有所减弱。有几个因素引发了对传染病的新兴趣，包括新认识到的传染病综合征的出现；微生物学、免疫学、病毒学和流行病学认识的进步；社会关注度的提高；有效治疗和预防药物的增多；以及专业化的总体趋势。这种兴趣导致了学会、亚专业委员会和期刊的形成，并说明了传染病在临床部门和国家思想中的突出地位。其他国家也在以不同的速度发生着类似的发展，同时重新关注传染病在发展中国家造成的损失。
