U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Cover of Treating Infectious Diseases in a Microbial World

Treating Infectious Diseases in a Microbial World

Report of Two Workshops on Novel Antimicrobial Therapeutics

; .

Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); .
ISBN-10: 0-309-10056-9

At the request of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, two committees established by the National Research Council organized workshops to identify promising new approaches to the development of antimicrobial therapeutics (Appendix A). One workshop focused on potential new classes of antibiotics, while the other explored the possibility of treating infectious diseases by modulating the immune system. The need for new antimicrobial therapeutics is acute because of growing resistance to available antibiotics, the emergence of new infectious diseases like SARS and West Nile virus, and the risk of bioterrorist attacks using infectious agents that may not be immediately identifiable. From one point of view, these are all manifestations of a single problem—human vulnerability to microbial disease—and therefore subject to one solution—a single drug that can protect against any infectious agent. Attractive as the idea of a "gorillacillin" superdrug might be in the abstract, discussions at both workshops made it clear that a point of view pitting human against microorganism is at best limited and at worst seriously flawed.

Contents

This study was supported by Contract No. N01-OD-4-2139 (Task Order #153) between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institutes of Health. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

Copyright © 2006, National Academy of Sciences.
Bookshelf ID: NBK19849PMID: 20669434DOI: 10.17226/11471

Views

  • PubReader
  • Print View
  • Cite this Page
  • PDF version of this title (909K)

Related information

Similar articles in PubMed

See reviews...See all...

Recent Activity

Your browsing activity is empty.

Activity recording is turned off.

Turn recording back on

See more...