Aids & Infectious Disease Science Center

Infectious diseases are caused by microscopic organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi, which impair the normal state or functioning of the body. The early decades of the twentieth century saw many great advances in treating infectious disease. Polio, tuberculosis, smallpox, and many other diseases which had once killed or disabled thousands of people were virtually eradicated from the U.S. population. Innovative drugs and vaccines brought many other potentially-fatal illnesses under control. Even the once potentially fatal "influenza" had become more of a nuisance than a threat, due to effective vaccines and medications.In fact, for awhile it looked like modern medicine was winning the battle against infectious disease, and public health officials began to talk about being close to eradicating some of them altogether. However, in recent decades we have seen new and troubling diseases come on the scene - diseases caused by infectious agents that are resistant to many current treatments, or that present a challenge to traditional vaccine technologies. Prominent among these new diseases is AIDS, whose devastating effects come as much from its suppression of the immune system as from the HIV virus itself. New strains of bacteria that are resistant to standard antibiotics also present a grave challenge to the medical community and the population as a whole. Clearly, a whole new wave of research is needed to find treatments and cures for these new infectious diseases'as well as cost-effective treatments for older diseases which still rage unchecked through poorer populations in less-developed nations around the world.The AIDS & Infectious Disease Science Center is dedicated to meeting this challenge. The Center provides financial and scientific support for research in the field of infectious disease, as well as for educating the public regarding these diseases, their treatment, prevention, and cure, so that once again we will be able to speak of eradicating infectious disease from the entire population.