TABLE 1.
Major Emerging Infectious Diseases in the United States, 1973-2004*
| Year | Microbial pathogen | Disease(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Rotavirus | Diarrheal disease in infants, nosocomial gastroenteritis |
| 1975 | Parvovirus B19 | Roseola in infants, aplastic anemia with chronic hemolytic anemia, polyarthritis |
| 1976 | Legionella pneumophila | Severe community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia |
| 1977 | Campylobacter jejuni | Enteritis, Guillain-Barré syndrome |
| 1978 | Chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum | Life-threatening malaria |
| 1978 | Human papillomavirus | Genital warts, cervical cancer |
| 1980 | Human T-cell lymphotropic virus I/II | T-cell leukemia, lymphoma, tropical spastic paraparesis |
| 1980 | Measles virus | Resurgent measles in young US adults |
| 1980 | Borrelia burgdorferi | Lyme disease |
| 1981 | Clostridium difficile | Antibiotic-associated colitis |
| 1981 | Human immunodeficiency virus | AIDS |
| 1981 | Toxic shock syndrome toxin-1-positive Staphylococcus aureus | Tampon-related toxic shock syndrome |
| 1982 | Helicobacter pylori | Gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastric maltomas |
| 1982 | Escherichia coli O157:H7 | Hemorrhagic enteritis, hemolytic uremic syndrome in children, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in adults |
| 1984 | Methicillin-resistant S aureus | Pandemic nosocomial infections |
| 1987 | Ehrlichia species | Severe systemic febrile illness |
| 1987 | Streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin– positive Streptococcus pyogenes | Toxic shock syndrome deriving from necrotizing soft tissue infections or bacteremia |
| 1989 | Hepatitis C virus | Chronic hepatitis, transfusion-related infection, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma |
| 1990 | Bordetella pertussis | Resurgent pertussis throughout the United States |
| 1990 | Multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis | Lethal tuberculosis in patients with AIDS |
| 1991 | Vibrio cholerae O139 | Epidemic and pandemic cholera in South America |
| 1991 | Vancomycin-resistant enterococci | Nosocomial infections |
| 1992 | Bartonella henselae | Cat-scratch disease in children, bacillary angiomatosis in patients with AIDS |
| 1993 | Cryptosporidium parvum | Acute enteritis in immunocompetent persons, chronic enteritis and wasting disease in patients with AIDS |
| 1993 | Hantavirus | Very severe pneumonia, 50% mortality |
| 1996 | Creutzfeldt-Jakob prion | Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, traced to epidemic bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle |
| 1998 | Methicillin-resistant S aureus | Pandemic community-acquired infections |
| 1999 | West Nile virus | Encephalitis, poliomyelitis-like syndrome, transfusion-related infection |
| 2001 | Bacillus anthracis | Biologic weapon used against US civilian population |
| 2002 | Vancomycin-resistant S aureus | Nosocomial infections in hemodialysis patients |
| 2003 | Monkeypox virus | Human monkeypox from contact with imported exotic rodents and US prairie dogs |
| 2003 | SARS-coronavirus | Pandemic SARS |
| 2004 | Avian influenza A (H5N1) | Life-threatening human influenza in southeastern Asia |
*
AIDS = acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome.