What Diseases Will We Tackle Over the Next Decade?
by
The 2004 World Health Organization list of the Top 10 Causes of Death worldwide includes many familiar faces. Although the results are grouped as low-, middle- and high-income countries, it’s largely just the order of diseases that change. But what will these lists look like in 10 years?
Diseases like Cancer are so complex that we could probably have an entire poll on which type of Cancer we will make the most progress in. For simplicity, we’ve grouped them into one large category.
As research moves forward over the next decade, where will the big breakthroughs be focused?
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Bonnie
wrote on March 9, 2010 at 12:01 am
To me, these segregate into "easy" and "hard" problems from a scientific standpoint, depending on how many causes contribute to their development. Thus, AIDS and malaria are "easy" in that they have a single, known cause. Cancer and heart disease are "hard" in that they depend on a complex interaction between genetic and lifestyle factors that still haven't been completely identified.
Of course it's not that clear-cut, but my feeling is that we have a much better chance of eradicating AIDS than cancer.
Lab Rat
wrote on March 9, 2010 at 10:11 pm
@Bonnie: Not sure I agree with that one. Cancer and heart disease may have a variety of complex factors, but at the same time that means there's lots of areas of research dedicated to finding ways, if not to completely 'cure' the disease, then at least to provide better care, treatment, etc.
AIDS and malaria do have a single known cause, but it;s been known for a while now, and tons of research has been done, and as far as the view from the general public goes (I don't work in those areas, and haven't been keeping up with the research) a cure still seems fairly on the remote side.
whizkid
wrote on March 12, 2010 at 3:06 pm
HIV is a good example of a disease with a well-documented molecular mechanism that continues to evade a cure. We know what's happening, but due to the error-prone viral polymerase, the virus is constantly evolving, making our treatments ineffective.