Forty or fifty years ago, acute bacterial and viral diseases were the major cause of death in Taiwan. Today, they have been replaced by cancer and cerebrovascular disease. However, the threat from infectious diseases has not disappeared.
以台灣為例，四、五十年前，細菌、病毒造成的急性傳染病，是國人主要的死亡原因；如今雖已為惡性腫瘤、腦血管疾病所取代，但傳染病對人類的威脅並沒有消失。