JAMA
Vol. 304 No. 10, pp. 1041-1140, September 8, 2010
http://jama.ama-assn.org/current.dtl

Editorial
A Theme Issue on Infectious Disease and Immunology—Call for Papers
Gianna Zuccotti; Phil B. Fontanarosa

[First 150 words per JAMA convention]

Infectious diseases and immunologic disorders are common reasons patients seek medical care, can be associated with considerable morbidity, and account for substantial health care expenditures. Each year, there are millions of outpatient visits for a variety of infectious disorders, such as upper respiratory tract infections, acute otitis media, skin infections, community-acquired pneumonia, hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections. In addition, infectious processes may represent life-threatening conditions for hospitalized patients, ranging from severe sepsis and ventilator-acquired pneumonia to nosocomial infection with resistant organisms and surgical site infections.

Despite control of some infectious processes, novel pathogens continue to emerge and cause severe and widespread illness, such as pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) and outbreaks with multidrug-resistant organisms. At the same time, the pipeline for new antibiotics is limited since many pharmaceutical companies have curtailed antimicrobial research and development because of concerns about high costs, low . . .