Drivers for the Emergence and re-emergence of Human Infectious Diseases, A Systematic review

Abstract Background Scientific evidence suggests that the total number and diversity of outbreaks and richness of Infectious Diseases (IDs) have increased significantly since the last few decades, resulting unpredictable loss of human life and economy. Understanding the driving factors for the emergence and re-emergence of such diverse human infectious diseases has become a focus of increased research in the field of human health. Methods Harzing's Publish or Perish Tarma software's search engine was used to obtain 1000 publications during a literature search using the keyword "Emerging Infectious Diseases." Of which the 55 most recent (publications in English from 2018 to 2023) were chosen, of which 30 papers were discovered to be legible for the review after removing the repeated, incomplete, and irrelevant publications from the software's search results. There were also 13 additional publications included in the study through manual search from PubMed. Following PRISMA 2020 checklist a total of 43 peer-reviewed publications meeting the inclusion criteria were used in this systematic review. Results The study revealed human induced ecological changes due to over-exploitation of the natural world, ecological degradation, climate change, urbanization, and the transnational movement are the major factors associated with the emergence and re-emergence of such diseases. Furthermore, environmental changes, inappropriate or misuse of antibiotics and Bioterrorism may account for EIDs. Understanding, the nature of wave of such diseases, timely forecasts of the onset and their potential re-emergence; save lives, money, and human productivity. Conclusions: Despite the significant impact of human life and economy due to EIDs at the global level, the available evidence indicates that identification of the major drivers of such diseases hasn’t received the attention it deserves for proactive preparedness and further research.