Infectious diseases are a major threat to human survival and quality of life. In 1996, the World Health Organization raised concern regarding over 17 million people dying each year from infectious diseases.1 That’s over 46,000 people per day. In 2014 HIV/AIDS caused 1.6 million deaths, tuberculosis caused 1.3 million deaths, pneumonia killed 1.1 million children under the age of 5, infectious diarrhea killed 760,000 children under the age of 5, malaria killed 627,000 people, rabies killed 55,000 people, and dengue killed 20,000 people and made 400 million ill.
In the United States, influenza and pneumonia typically holds the #8 spot among the annual list of leading causes of death. In recent years, Covid-19 moved into the #3 spot with 385,676 deaths in 2020, 463,210 deaths in 2021, and 181,256 deaths so far in 2022 (306,000 annualized). Over 14,000 cases of monkeypox have been identified in the US this year, and in July, a human case of polio was identified in New York. Additional polio virus has been detected in wastewater. And in China, the first human cases of Langya henipavirus have been detected. The world is replete with harmful viruses.










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