The plague is caused by infection with plague bacilli. In ancient Rome and medieval Europe, it was called the black death, which raged several times, killing millions of people. In the 14th century Europe, about one-third of the population at the time is said to have lost their lives. In fighting against the plague, people came up with the ideas of quarantine and personal protective equipment, and began to make efforts to improve the sanitary environment.

Do you know that there are bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics?
This is known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is the cause of the deaths of more than 700,000 people worldwide each year. Also known as the silent pandemic, if no special measures are taken, the number of deaths from AMR is estimated to exceed that of cancer by 2050, reaching 10 million a year. Governments and health administrative organizations have identified AMR as a high-priority social issue at the national and regional/national levels that urgently need global action.

These are known as the three major infectious diseases, still killing several millions of people each year, mainly in the low- and middle-income countries. Although the spread of infection has been slowing down as a result of scientific advancement and a lot of international support over the past many years, it is still difficult to eradicate these infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases caused by parasites or bacteria prevailing mainly in tropical regions are called “neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)” because they have not been considered as major diseases in advanced countries. NTDs are seen in 149 countries and regions around the world, threatening the lives of more than 1 billion people and causing billions of dollars in damage to those low- and middle-income countries each year.