What is the most common infectious disease?

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Hepatitis B: Approximately 2 billion people are infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), making it the most common infectious disease in the world today. Over 350 million of those infected never rid themselves of the infection. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that causes symptoms such as jaundice, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain; hepatitis B is the most serious form of the disease. Chronic infections can cause cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer in later years. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903696.html Tuberculosis is the most common infectious disease caused by bacteria in the world, with 8 million new cases and 2.9 million deaths annually. Among the new patients, 1.3 million are children under l5, and 450,000 of them die. http://www0.nih.go.jp/niid/gakuyukai/open_to_outside/vaccine/vacbcg.html If anybody is interested about different types, there are lots listed on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_infectious_diseases Mar 26 04, 2:02 PM