The 20th century has witnessed great economic, scientific, and technological progress. We have lived in an era of great biotechnological achievements. Our diagnostic and therapeutic abilities in the management of infectious diseases have improved dramatically. Some infections such as smallpox have been eradicated by vaccination, others have been controlled by vigorous public health measures. The resilience of viruses and the tenacity of bacteria have led to the emergence of new infectious diseases and the evolution of old ones. Microbe hunters have won many battles against infections in the 20th century, but the war against classic and emerging infectious diseases is not over. Many new viruses have been discovered over the past two decades including HIV. The degradation of the ecological system, destruction of rain forests, overcrowding and the population boom are exposing humankind to new forms of infectious diseases. With air travel, the world is becoming a true global village and geographic barriers are being disrupted. An infectious agent may jump from the jungles of Africa to the urban communities of the Western hemisphere in a few hours. West Nile virus was recently reported in New York and other eastern states. It is our responsibility to stimulate, encourage, and intensify a continued concerted effort to establish an assault on new and old causes of infectious diseases that may lead to blindness with the ultimate goal of developing new ways to diagnose, new ways to treat, and means to prevent blinding and fatal infections. After the second world war there was a widespread of optimism in the United States that good sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics would conquer all infectious diseases. This elation and euphoria were of short duration. The control of classic infections was followed by epidemics of infectious diseases. The emergence of new infectious diseases such as AIDS and Ebola …