Future of global disease

From The Guardian:

A new killer disease on par with HIV-Aids or ebola is likely to emerge in the next few years and threaten the lives of millions of people worldwide, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today.

Potentially deadly new diseases are being identified at an "unprecedented rate", with global epidemics spreading more rapidly than ever, the United Nations agency warned in its annual world health report.

At least one new disease has been identified every year since the 1970s. Today, there are 39 that were unknown just over a generation ago....

The agency said infectious diseases were spreading faster due to global travel, with more than 1,100 epidemics verified in the last five years, including bird flu, cholera and polio.

With more than 2 billion people travelling by air every year, the WHO said "an outbreak or epidemic in one part of the world is only a few hours away from becoming an imminent threat somewhere else".

Perhaps it's slightly paradoxical that the WHO annual report is titled A safer future: global public health security in the 21st century, but I suppose it's better than We're All Going To Die!!!

Technorati Tags: disease, epidemics, globalization, risk

Comments

[Common Sense]

We're All Going To Die? You really think that's an appropriate title? That's just dumb. The bird flu hasn't killed us, and SARS is presently quite laughable. The last major epidemic we've had in the United States was the Spanish Flu. That was also partly or mostly due to the horrendous sanitation during the early twentieth century. If an epidemic hits us, it happens. Fear is the only thing we can control. We're All Going To Die? You really think that's an appropriate title? That's just dumb. The bird flu hasn't killed us, and SARS is presently quite laughable. The last major epidemic we've had in the United States was the Spanish Flu. That was also partly or mostly due to the horrendous sanitation during the early twentieth century. If an epidemic hits us, it happens. Fear is the only thing we can control. But hey, maybe the communists really are behind it? Or the terrorists? Or a killer asteroid. Or...