Today’s infectious diseases landscape

Infectious diseases are an ever-present threat to the health and welfare of the world’s population. There is no section of society, rich or poor, that is untouched. Without timely intervention and preventative measures,  disease can spread rapidly with sometimes catastrophic effects.

Healthcare professionals face a number of hurdles in their efforts to limit the spread of disease. Increasing global travel, lifestyle changes, population growth and even climate change have all had an impact. While the threat posed by some diseases is receding, new emerging pathogens are challenging established screening and treatment processes.

Knowing what we are up against is the first step in setting a course of action.

Explore the disease prevalence maps below to better understand the global burden of infectious disease.

The fight against the spread of disease faces threats on several fronts. Take, for example, silent, asymptomatic or subclinical infections. These pose significant challenges to halting the spread of infectious diseases, as well as impacting patients’ own health in the long-term.

Asymptomatic infections may also be able to transmit disease unknowingly to
others while their own illness lingers untreated, causing longer term damage to their health. Or, it may become the underlying cause of another, more serious illness, such as human papillomavirus (HPV) which has been linked to a number of cancers including cervical cancer in women, as well as being the cause of various cancers in men. Reliable diagnostics help detect and monitor for silent infections, reducing the spread of infection and improving disease and patient management.

Prevention of the spread of disease becomes doubly important at a time when the world faces the growing threat of drug resistance.¹ Unregulated access and inappropriate use of pharmaceuticals² has led to growing rates of drug resistance, resulting in tens of thousands of avoidable deaths³ every year. An estimated 70%  of the two million⁴ hospital infections in the US are resistant to at least one antibiotic. Control over multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and resistance to antiretrovirals for HIV are just two of the diseases at risk from resistance.

Established protocols exist for managing the spread, testing and treatment of
most known diseases. However, communities also come under threat from
emerging pathogens whose origins, modes of transmission, and epidemiology are initially unclear.

As recently as 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency as health professionals battled to understand and manage the spread of the Zika virus⁵, now known to cause congenital brain abnormalities and trigger Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Roche’s commitment to improving public health measures and its rigorous testing process has made a significant contribution to diminishing the threat of Zika, to the point where the disease is now no longer considered an emergency, but still presents a significant challenge. Access to innovative diagnostic solutions helps identify and remove donations potentially infected with Zika virus from the supply of blood products. This is a significant achievement in delivering a rapid response to this global health emergency.

The continued management of infectious diseases presents distinct challenges for healthcare professionals.

With the assistance of dependable diagnostic solutions, clinicians need to be able to identify the greatest threats to health and design an appropriate response. This may mean localised prevention, individual treatment post-infection, or contributing to widespread policy change at national or international levels. Roche has a proud history of delivering advanced testing that delivers increasingly precise information, saving lives. Diagnostics continues to build on our legacy of life-changing, life-saving innovation.