Person-centered infectious diseases and pandemics

Ticona E.; Gao G.F.; Zhou L.; Burgos M. · Person Centered Medicine (2023) · DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-17650-0_28

Resumen

Infectious diseases are prevalent and can manifest in all organs of the body. Most infections are self-limited and resolve without complications, but others may have serious consequences such as need for hospitalization and death. Infection risk and disease manifestations are highly variable between hosts. A person and pathogen-centered management approach is therefore often necessary, including the decision to treat or not, and selection of anti-infective medication. Infectious diseases vary in their prevalence among neighborhoods, cities, and countries, according to the social determinants of health that influence them, so such determinants should be considered for the design of prevention and control strategies. In the last 50 years, new infectious diseases have appeared, and some almost extinct have reappeared, recognized now as emerging or re-emerging diseases respectively. Many of these have run epidemically, generating global threats, including COVID-19 and the emergence of highly resistant germs. How to manage such pandemics in a widely diverse world is a major global challenge. The experience of managing and largely controlling the Covid-19 pandemic using people-centered strategies in a major country such as China is presented. Due to the increase in world population, the greater need for food, the widely international markets, social conflicts, the greater depredation of nature, climate change, among other factors, the threat of new pandemics is evident. At the same time, we appreciate that the discovery, creation and availability of new antimicrobials has not been parallel to the emergence of these threats. Therefore, in addition to strengthening the rational use of antimicrobial therapy, new forms of coexistence in the world and a greater and better practice of person-centered medicine are necessary. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023. All rights reserved.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos