Innovative Approaches in Diagnosis of Emerging/re-emerging Infectious Diseases

Infectious disease can spread rapidly, causing enormous losses to health and livelihood. Despite recent advances in diagnostics of infectious diseases, the easy and fast worldwide travel and increased global interdependence have added layers of complexity to recognize and timely manage several infectious diseases, both classical as well as emerging/re-emerging. HIV/AIDS, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, invasive fungal infections in transplant recipients, Clostridioides difficile enterocolitis, malaria, measles, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), pandemic avian and H1N1 influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Ebola and Zika are only a few of many examples of emerging infectious diseases causing significant morbidity and mortality. To successfully control emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases, the best strategy is to stop their spread at an early stage. To do this, we rely on early diagnosis of disease by rapid and reliable detection of disease-causing agent(s). This is particularly true for newly emerging infectious disease (like SARS and MERS), where we find ourselves in a race to develop new diagnostic approaches during ongoing outbreak.

This Research Topic aims to update about innovative approaches in diagnosis of emerging/re-emerging diseases and to highlight the importance and urgency for development of novel, rapid and more accurate diagnostic tools.

We welcome Original Research, Mini-Review and Review manuscript that deal with all aspects of innovative approaches in diagnosis of emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases.