The infectious disease epidemiology cluster encompasses domestic and global work on the epidemiology of emerging and re-emerging infections, global infectious disease threats, disease surveillance, disease detection, development of vaccines and other prevention methods, clinical trials, and the role of infectious pathogens in the pathogenesis of chronic non-communicable diseases (such as cancer and cardiovascular disease). Types of infections in the body caused by microorganisms and their concept of infecting.

A common way for Infectious Diseases to spread is either through direct contact or indirect contact, which can cause different types of infections. These infection spread through air, water, food and contact with other persons. These cause Air borne diseases, Food borne diseases, Water borne diseases, Childhood infectious diseases or pediatric infectious diseases, Geriatric infectious diseases, Sexually transmitted diseases, Deadly infectious diseases, Communicable infectious diseases and Microbial Infections. 

Viruses are capsules with genetic material inside. Viruses are like hijackers. They invade living, normal cells and use those cells to multiply and produce other viruses like themselves. This eventually kills the cells, which can make you sick. Viral infections are hard to treat because viruses live inside your body's cells. They are "protected" from medicines, which usually move through your bloodstream. Antibiotics do not work for viral infections. There are a few antiviral medicines available. Vaccines can help prevent you from getting many viral diseases. When the body's immune system detects a viral infection, it begins to respond in a generic way. A process begins called RNA interference, which is crucial to fighting viruses because it degrades the viral genetic material and enables cells to survive the infection. Whereas bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics, viral infections require either vaccinations to prevent them or antiviral drugs to treat them. Types of some viral diseases are Ebola, HIV, HPV, Influenza, Herpes Virus, Small Pox, Hanta Virus, etc.

Bacterial diseases include any type of illness caused by bacteria. Bacteria are a type of microorganism, which are tiny forms of life that can only be seen with a microscope. Millions of bacteria normally live on the skin, in the intestines, and on the genitalia. Harmful bacteria that cause bacterial infections and disease are called pathogenic bacteria. Bacterial diseases occur when pathogenic bacteria get into the body and begin to reproduce and crowd out healthy bacteria, or to grow in tissues that are normally sterile. Harmful bacteria may also emit toxins that damage the body. Each species has specific effect and causes symptoms in people who are infected. Some, if not most people who are infected with a pathogenic bacteria do not have symptoms. Immuno-compromised individuals are more susceptible to pathogenic bacteria. Some of the bacterial infections are Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, MSRA, Anthrax, Leprosy, Pneumonia, Gonorrhoea, Syphilis, etc. 

Medical mycology is the study of fungal infections. In immunocompromised hosts systemic fungal infections are usually seen. Systemic fungal infections lead to pulmonary infections. Fungal infections are usually seen on skin, nails, and hair. Common fungal infections are Intertrigo, Thrush, and Pityriasis versicolor, Athlete’s foot, nail infections, ring worm of the body, ring worm of the groin. Control of fungal infections may include prevention as well as treatment. Prevention includes avoidance of environments and conditions conducive to fungal growth. Maintenance of a “spore-free” environment in hospitals can reduce the incidence of nosocomial fungal infections. Fungal infections include Candidiasis, Aspergillosis, Ring worm diseases, Fungal eye Infections, Cryptococcal infections, etc. 

A parasitic disease is an infectious disease caused or transmitted by a parasite. Many parasites do not cause diseases. Parasitic diseases can affect practically all living organisms, including plants and mammals. The study of parasitic diseases is called parasitology. The intestinal roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides causes ascariasis, estimated to infect 1 billion people, although it often does little damage. More important in its impact is malaria, which is estimated to cause 300 million to 500 million illnesses a year and about 2 million deaths. About half of those deaths occur in children under age 5. Schistosoma blood flukes cause schistosomiasis (shis-to-so-MY-a-sis), which is estimated to cause 120 million illnesses, 20 million of them severe. Other parasitic diseases that are estimated to cause a million or more cases of illness are filariasis, amebiasis, Chagas' disease, leishmaniasis, and African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). Some of the infections are Malaria, Leishmaniasis, Entamoeba, Schistosomiasis, etc. 

Oncovirus, synonymously called a 'tumour virus', is a virus that can cause cancer. An oncolytic virus preferentially infects the host's cancer cells and lyses them, causing tumour destruction, and is thus referred to as a 'cancer killing virus'. Cancer bacteria are bacteria infectious organisms that are known or suspected to cause cancer. While cancer-associated bacteria have long been considered to be opportunistic (i.e., infecting healthy tissues after cancer has already established itself), there is some evidence that bacteria may be directly carcinogenic. Certain parasitic worms that can live inside the human body can also raise the risk of developing some kinds of cancer. 

Neglected tropical diseases are a medically diverse group of tropical infections which are especially common in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. They are caused by a variety of pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and helminths. Different organizations define the set of diseases differently.

There is some debate among the WHO, CDC, and infectious disease experts over which diseases are classified as neglected tropical diseases.  A neglected tropical disease researcher, notes 13 neglected tropical diseases: ascariasis, Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease, dracunculiasis, hookworm infection, human African trypanosomiasis, Leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, and trichuriasis.  More than 30 different bacteria, viruses, and parasites can cause STIs. Bacterial STIs include chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis among others. Viral STIs include genital herpes, HIV/AIDS, and genital warts among others. Parasitic STIs include trichomoniasis among others. Infection control  addresses factors related to the spread of infections within the healthcare setting (whether patient-to-patient, from patients to staff and from staff to patients, or among-staff), including prevention (via hand hygiene/hand washing, cleaning/disinfection/sterilization, vaccination, surveillance). Vaccines are among the most cost-effective clinical preventive services and are a core component of any preventive services package. Childhood immunization programs provide a very high return on investment.

Microbial Pathogenesis is the study of the molecular mechanisms used by microbes to cause disease in humans and animals. Bacterial, protozoan, fungal and viral pathogens have evolved a wide variety of tools to establish themselves in the host and gain nutrients, which also cause damage and disease. Other mechanisms of pathogenesis include host defence evasion. To understand the complex processes used by microbial pathogens, microbiologists employ all the tools of modern molecular biology, genetics, virulence factors, drug interactions, biochemistry and biophysics. Understanding how microbes cause disease is often the first step toward the development of new vaccines and therapeutics. 

The diagnosis of a microbial infection begins with an assessment of clinical and epidemiologic features, leading to the formulation of a diagnostic hypothesis. Anatomic localization of the infection with the aid of physical and radiologic findings is usually included. This clinical diagnosis suggests a number of possible etiologic agents based on knowledge of infectious syndromes and their courses. The general approaches to laboratory diagnosis vary with different microorganisms and infectious diseases. Pharmaceutical Biotechnology is an increasingly important area of science and technology, and contributes to design and delivery of new therapeutic drugs, the development of diagnostic agents for medical tests, and the beginnings of gene therapy for correcting the medical symptoms of hereditary diseases. Molecular Diagnostic methods use enhanced molecular sequencing tools along with cutting-edge information technologies and bioinformatics experts to enable faster and more effective infectious disease prevention and control. These techniques have become increasingly integrated into the practice of infectious disease epidemiology. The complexity of diseases puts forward a need for development of new and novel diagnostic techniques or methods for predicting the infections caused by microorganisms. Diagnostic microbiology is a specialty in the sciences which focuses on applying microbiology to medical diagnosis. In addition to being involved in the identification of a disease-causing organism, diagnostic microbiology can also be a part of developing a treatment plan. Microbes such as bacteria, protozoans, and fungi play a role in many disease processes. Many of the techniques like microscopy, immunological tests, radiology, biomarker tests, ELISA, serology tests, vaccine vectors are the major diagnostic tests that are already in use. Many microbes have developed resistance to medications. Hence, it is necessary for the scientists to come up with smarter ways of diagnosing these microbes and their pathogenic mechanisms. 

Monitoring viral DNA or RNA loads has become the standard of care for several chronic viral infections.  Genotyping for the detection of drug resistance is the standard of care to guide antiretroviral therapy and complements load assessment. Following on from the success of molecular methods for the detection of several bacterial infections, genotypic detection of antibiotic resistance is appealing due to the avoidance of problems such as variable phenotypic resistance expression.  Unlike specific PCR testing where a particular organism is being sought, the use of broad-range PCR for the diagnosis of infectious diseases is more of a fishing expedition. Despite significant advantages of molecular diagnostics it cannot yet replace conventional methods for a range of infectious diseases since many common tests performed in the clinical microbiology laboratory are rapid and inexpensive.

The global clinical microbiology market is valued at $6,727.29 million in 2014 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.03% between 2014 and 2019. Increasing disease burden of infectious diseases and increased funding for healthcare expenditure are the important growth drivers for this market during the forecast period.

The principles of pharmaceutical microbiology and human cell mechanisms allows pharmacists to discover antimicrobial drugs that would prevent an escalating number of communicable diseases. Pharmacists and microbiologists work synergistically to ensure that drug therapies target the opportunistic microbes without harming its human host. Advances in high-throughput DNA-sequencing techniques have given us the unprecedented ability to rapidly determine the nucleotide sequences of entire bacterial genomes. The nature of biological barriers and developing advanced systems to improve the delivery of therapeutics. the advent of new discovery approaches and adjuvants, today is possible to make vaccines virtually against every pathogen. The future of immunization depends on the success of medical research for vaccines that are simpler to administer, will survive transport even without refrigeration, and will provide a more substantial and long-lasting immune response.

Plant diseases pose a serious and continuing threat to food security, food safety, national economies, biodiversity and the rural environment. Infectious plant diseases are caused by a pathogenic organism such as a fungus, bacterium, mycoplasma, virus, viroid, nematode, or parasitic flowering plant. An infectious agent is capable of reproducing within or on its host and spreading from one susceptible host to another. The infectious are caused by Virus, Bacteria, Fungi, Nematodes and parasites. These infection causing agents causes blights, canker, wilts, rots and rusts.

Animal Infectious Diseases is an important threat to human health, since the emergence of human diseases is dominated by zoonotic pathogens. Veterinary vaccines are to improve the health and welfare of companion animals, increase production of livestock in a cost-effective manner, and prevent animal-to-human transmission from both domestic animals and wildlife. Several vaccine types can de distinguished among the second-generation veterinary vaccines, depending whether they are live or inactivated, according to the strain of rabies virus used and the characteristics of the cell substrate chosen for viral replication.

The selection of veterinary medicines comprises about 270 trade names. The Global Veterinary Vaccines market ($4.23 Bn) accounted for around 20% of the total Vaccines market ($29.71 Bn) in 2010. It is expected to grow with a CAGR of 5.80% to reach the market size of $5.6 Bn by 2015. United States represents the largest market for Veterinary/ animal vaccines worldwide, with the market share of 46% and market size of $1.94 Bn in 2010. The global veterinary diagnostics market has seen a paradigm shift in the past decade with the emergence of a number of new and technologically advanced products, which had a positive impact on the overall growth of the market. 

Oral microbiology is a complex ecological system where upto 700 species of microorganisms that have been identified .Some of the predominant groups present in the mouth include Streptococcus, Neisseria, Veillonella, Actinomyces and other obligate anaerobes . These organisms maintain a mutualistic relationship with the host by preventing pathogenic species from adhering to the mucosal surface. Oral microflorae can cause dental plaques and are also a common cause dental caries and periodontal disease. An understanding of the oral environment and microbial interactions leads to understanding the main causes for the onset of oral diseases. Periodontics is that specialty of dentistry which encompasses the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the supporting and surrounding tissues of the teeth or their substitutes and the maintenance of the health, function and esthetics of these structures and tissues. 

Cosmetics microbiologists faces new challenges, such as the need to develop formulations that are less aggressive to consumers but also well-protected against microbial contamination. Besides bacteria and yeasts, more recently innovative processes and products have also been introduced in microalgal biotechnology to produce vitamins, proteins, fatty acids and many other useful compounds. For some specific applications, microalgae can be considered even a better system than bacteria and fungi for the production of interesting compounds for cosmetics. Researchers have utilized innovative approaches by employing the unique properties of nanomaterials in order to achieve detection of infectious agents. Molecular Diagnostic methods use enhanced molecular sequencing tools along with cutting-edge information technologies and bioinformatics experts to enable faster and more effective infectious disease prevention and control. 

Microbes are invariably evolving enabling them to efficiently adapt to new environments. Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of microbes to grow in the presence of a chemical (drug) that would normally kill them or limit their growth. In contrast, the term “antimicrobials” include all agents that act against all types of microorganisms – bacteria (antibacterial), viruses (antiviral), fungi (antifungal) and protozoa (antiprotozoal). Phage therapy is the therapeutic use of Microbes to treat pathogenic Microbial infections. Many different soil microorganisms are responsible for nutrient recycling (for one, through decomposing plant residues) and other soil building and maintaining activities. Mixed culture of beneficial microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria (Rhodopseudomonas sp) lactic acid bacteria (lactobacillus sp.), yeast (saccharomyces sp.) and fermenting fungi can positively improve the soil fertility as well as plant productivity. Productive Microbes as an effective alternative tool for manipulation and managing the overall microbial ecology of complex and diverse systems. The concept of probiotics is to restore and maintain a microflora advantageous to the human body. 

A key ingredient in successful entrepreneurship is self-knowledge. Medical Microbiology-2016 aims to bring together all existing and budding bio entrepreneurs to share experiences and present new innovations and challenges in microbiological community. Each year, over a million companies are started in the world with about 5–10 of them classified as high technology companies. Turning ideas into business ventures is tricky and the opportunity-recognition step is critical in new venture creation. This gestalt in the entrepreneur's perception of the relationship between the invention and final product is refined into a business model that describes how the venture will make money or provide an appropriate return to the potential investors. Biological science is complex and rapidly changing and requires a specialized knowledge to understand the value of the innovation and its competitive position in the industry. Although life scientists are typically the founders of biotech companies, studies have shown that the most successful high tech startups are founded by a team of two to three individuals with mixed backgrounds, substantial industry experience and a very clear market and product focus at founding. This three day community-wide conference will be a highly interactive forum that will bring experts in areas ranging from structural microbiology to signaling pathways to novel therapeutic approaches to the scientific hub. In addition to our outstanding speakers, we will also showcase short talks and poster presentations from submitted abstracts.The speakers will discuss how microbes can be engineered to report using computational inputs from their local environment. This session will include combined efforts of cutting edge synthetic biology research to highlight the current state, challenges and future of engineered microbial communities.