The continuing challenge of infectious diseases

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00219-6/fulltext?dgcid=hubspot_email_gbdalerts&utm_campaign=gbdalerts&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--Mv3lPxskyXXo26LUcztar4D_WVkOVbom0bcjB5YAyv2xr7pZvN9yb7DFDQqhrNjimzJGpMdWtTF1AsZl_dS5hMsA6ow&_hsmi=311643152&utm_content=311597708&utm_source=hs_email In 2019, 2540 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2290–2810) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were attributed to non-communicable and communicable diseases and injuries globally.1 In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the IHME Pathogen Core Group have now estimated a burden of 704 million (610–820) DALYs to be associated with 85 pathogens (encompassing causative agents, pathogen groups, infectious diseases, and aggregate categories),2 or more than a quarter (27·7%) of all DALYs attributable to disease and injury, in 2019. Although the primary disease burdens in high-income and upper-middle-income countries included cardiovascular diseases and cancer,1 low-income and lower-middle-income countries were disproportionately affected by infectious diseases.2 According to super-region, the greatest fraction of pathogen-associated DALYs among the all-cause DALY burden was estimated in sub-Saharan Africa, irrespective of age, and the region's proportions were greater than the global DALY proportions for infectious diseases (regional contribution of pathogen-associated DALYs to all-cause DALYs in children aged <5 years was 79·3% in sub-Saharan Africa versus 65·5% globally, and in individuals ≥5 years, 45·2% in sub-Saharan Africa versus 19·1% globally; compared with 16·5% in children <5 years and 9·7% in individuals ≥5 years in the high-income super-region).