Genomics Research: The Underpinning of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Strategies

Infectious diseases are the second leading cause of death worldwide. Their dynamic nature due to persistent, emerging, and re-emerging infections continues to challenge health care systems around the world. In addition, individuals do not respond equally to infection, and pathogens of the same species are more disparate than once thought. It is incontrovertible that much of this diversity is attributable to genetic variation. Over the past two decades, genomics has provided remarkable insight into susceptibility, resistance, and progression of infection, yet the gap between genomics research and public health application remains large. This special issue highlights the role of genomics in advancing our understanding of host-pathogen interactions and in improving the quality of mainstay public health tools including genomic epidemiology, diagnostics/screening, and vaccines.