"Infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide." - American Society for Microbiology

Overview

At SBRI, we’ve chosen an audacious goal: to conduct targeted research leading to the prevention, diagnosis and cure of global infectious diseases. Why infectious disease? Each year, more than 14 million men, women and children perish from these diseases, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as lesser-known, but equally deadly diseases such as African sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. These diseases are the leading cause of death globally. The resulting devastation encompasses many other factors as well: children who are left parentless due to the scourge of HIV/AIDS and adults who cannot be productive members of society due to malaria, to name a few.

Over the last few decades, people in more developed countries began to dismiss the threat of infectious diseases, believing that modern medicine was successfully controlling these diseases. Unfortunately, this is not the case for several reasons:

• newly emerging infectious diseases

• resurgence of infectious diseases, such as TB, once thought to be under control

• population crowding and poor living conditions

• inadequate health care systems 

• resistance to drugs as wily pathogens adapt

• ease and accessibility of global travel

The statistics from malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis – often referred to as the “unholy trinity” of infectious diseases – are staggering: 

• malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds

• more than 13 million children have been orphaned in the wake of HIV/AIDS

• one-third of the world’s population is infected with the bacterium that causes TB 

Estimates show that, by 2020, the cumulative deaths from infectious diseases will be well over 100 million, if these diseases remain unchecked.

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