Table 1.
Selected emerging diseases of infection control importance
| Disease (initial location) | Cases (United States) | Outcome | Person-to-person transmission | Patient-to-HCP transmission | Infection control risk | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legionnaires' disease | Unknown (thousands) | Endemic and epidemic | No | No | High | 1976-present |
| HIV (Africa) | Millions (thousands) | Ongoing epidemic | Yes (blood exposure, organ transplantation, vertical, sexual) | Yes (blood exposure) | Moderate | 1978-present |
| vCJD | Hundreds | Controlled | Yes (blood, theoretically via contaminated medical instruments) | No | Low | 1996 |
| West Nile fever | (Thousands) | Endemic | Yes (blood transfusions, vertical, organ transplantation) | No* | Low | 1999 |
| SARS (China) | ~8,000 (8) | Controlled | Yes (droplet, contact, airborne?) | Yes | High | 2003-2004 |
| Monkeypox (Africa) | (37 confirmed, 10 probable) | Eliminated in United States | Yes (droplet, contact) | Yes† | High | 2003 |
| MERS (Middle East) | Thousands (2) | Controlled | Yes (droplet, contact) | Yes | High | 2014-present |
| Ebola (West Africa) | Thousands (4) | Controlled United States, reduced Africa | Yes (contact, sexual) | Yes | High | 2014-present |
HCP, health care personnel; MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome; SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome; vCJD, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
*
Infection via a needlestick theoretically possible.
†
No HCP developed infection during the U.S. outbreak but patient-to-HCP transmission described in Africa.