from Dirk Bumann writing in Systems Microbiology: Current Topics and Applications:
Microbial infections still cause around one quarter of all deaths globally, despite the advances that have been made in the treatment of infectious disease. The increasing occurrence of drug resistant pathogens, both old and new, coupled with an increasingly mobile human population has creatd many novel opportunities for potential pathogens to meet new human hosts. All of this requires new prevention and control strategies but progress has been slow, despite recent technological advances and increased investment. The rapid increase in data proved difficult to translate into practical applications for human health care, and new approaches and analyses are needed to make the most of new opportunities. One of these is the use of the new tools of systems biology and this chapter will review the application of these to microbial pathogens.
Further reading: Systems Microbiology Related publications