Emerging infectious disease (EID) are diseases that have not appear in humans before OR have occurred before but only affected small numbers of population in isolated area OR have happened throughout human history but have only recently been recognized that infectious agent as the underlying cause.
Emerging Infectious Diseases divided into two categories namely newly emerging and reemerging infectious disease. Newly emerging infectious diseases are diseases that have been found in the human population for the first time. While reemerging infectious diseases refer to diseases that are reoccurred, either in more pathogenic form or rapidly transmission in a new locations after a significant declining or controlling before. World Health Organization report in 2007 that the rate of infectious disease emerge faster than before. Since 1970 there are 40 infectious diseases that discovered such as SARS, MERS, Ebola, Avian Influenza, Swine Influenza, Zika, Nypah virus, COVID19,etc.
EID become a continuous threat to the public health in the world. Before causing an epidemic, the infectious agent have a various process of adaptation to become pathogenic in new host. Gene mutation, genetic recombination, or reassortment and the complex interaction between infectious agent, environment and host, also changing of environment factors include deforestation, modernization of agriculture, natural disasters, sociodemographic factors such as dense population, poor living standard, massive expansion of global travelling, social instability and killing wild animals.
Those things contribute to make the pathogen adapt in new host or new ecological niches and spread easily. In consequently, the potential pathogen can cause an epidemic infectious disease that spread rapidly or cause pandemic in the global.
Outbreak of infectious disease can cause not only burden for public health system but also induce economic instability for nations. Awareness and preparedness of every countries must be an important issue at all times. However, the public health system in the developing countries is weak. Low and middle income countries often lack of capacity to develop the more effective respond facing the infectious diseases outbreak because underfunded of public health system, understaffed, lack of surveillance system, and struggling with the existing burden of disease.
As a result, the developing countries will bear the harshest consequences of pandemic threat. Improving the capacity of developing countries to respond to Emerging Infectious Diseases especially diseases that potentially become pandemics is important to reduce the transmission around the globe also to decline the mortality of an outbreak in developing countries.
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