Editorial: Novel interventions for the prevention and control of communicable diseases

White, that 'at least in the affluent West,' the grand objective had already been reached. 'One of the immemorial hazards of human existence has gone", he reported, because there is a 'virtual absence of serious infectious disease today'. The World Health Organisation also saw the entire planet as ready to enter the new era by the end of the century. Meeting at Alma Ata in 1979, the World Health Assembly adopted the goal of 'Health for All, 2000' (1) This prevention and control of communicable disease had been brought about by dramatic improvements in society; in housing, diet, and education. However, also by a number of specific interventions that had become well established. Adequate sanitary and water engineering, control of insects and other disease vectors and widespread public acceptance of immunisation all proved revolutionary in reducing the global burden of communicable disease.Nevertheless, this optimism proved short lived. The rapidly changing physical and social environment in the twenty first century can, just as readily, drive the emergence or re-emergence of communicable diseases. The ongoing impacts of conflict and the movement of displaced people, the impact of climate change on vector distribution, changes in consumer behaviour, including increasing mistrust in vaccines, and the relentless growth of antimicrobial resistance are all examples of these drivers. This requires fresh approaches to prevention and control. The development of a "onehealth" approach has demonstrated the public health benefits of controlling zoonoses in animal populations, but at the same time, the potential for promoting antimicrobial resistance through the widespread veterinary use of treatments has been recognised. At a time when a new Pandemic Treaty has just been agreed at the World Health Assembly, this collection of papers in this Frontiers' topic further demonstrates the current interest globally in infectious diseases and their prevention. The contributions reflect some of the favoured technical approaches of modern science such as genomics and mathematical modelling. However, when the various levels at which infectious diseases may be addressed are considered there are some conspicuous omissions. There are no papers on climate change and deforestation, even though the role of these phenomena in changing the distribution of pathogens is well recognised.Similarly, no papers consider 'One health' interventions targeting the public health impact of controlling disease in animal populations. Nevertheless, there are papers from eight countries on four continents with Australasia, South America and Antarctica, the absentees. Eight papers come from China, seven from Europe, three from Africa and just one from the United States. They reflect, therefore, science's current social structure, globally. Thus, China is now the source of the largest proportion of scientific papers published annually (4).The potential for infectious diseases to change the trajectory of history has been long recognised (5,6 ) and the COVID-19 Pandemic and the disruption that it caused has emphasised this and restimulated the interest of historians. (7,8). What this history emphasises is that humanity needs to keep a sharp focus on infectious disease, in the sorts of ways that these papers describe. This is a task and is both important and difficult. It is also truly international.