About Our Name

Emerging diseases are infections that have increased recently or are threatening to increase in the near future. These infections could be

• newly discovered (like the sometimes deadly Bourbon virus that was identified in 2014 in Bourbon County, Kansas).
• completely new to an area (like Zika virus in the Western Hemisphere).
• reappearing in an area (like dengue in south Florida, Texas, and Hawaii).
• caused by bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics, like the so-called “nightmare bacteria” CRE (carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae).

Zoonotic means infectious diseases spread between animals, insects, ticks, and people. Examples include

• Lyme disease (spread by ticks)
• Salmonella infections (spread by poultry and other animals)
• rabies (spread by mammals)

Infectious diseases are illnesses caused by germs (such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi) that enter the body, multiply, and cause an infection.

• Some infectious diseases are contagious, that is, spread from one person to another.
• Other infectious diseases can be spread by germs carried in air, water, food, or soil. They can also be spread by insects, ticks, or animals.