Congress told to think globally on disease threat

The United States needs eyes and ears in other nations to detect the outbreak of infectious diseases that are likely to have a global impact.

By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. Dec. 8, 2003.

Washington -- Experts on infectious diseases told congressional staffers during a Nov. 19 Capitol Hill briefing that government needs to invest in global public health surveillance and control capacities.

Emerging infectious diseases often first appear in countries far from the United States, but they can still become problems close to home. SARS, West Nile virus and monkeypox are all recent examples, as is a malaria outbreak last year in the Washington, D.C., suburbs that might have been caused by mosquitoes hitching a plane ride from abroad to nearby Dulles airport.

Links
See related content

"Unless we have an awareness of those diseases and an awareness of the public health threats going on outside the United States, we are ill-prepared for dealing with those diseases when they reach our shores," said Donald S. Burke, MD, associate department chair for disease prevention and control at Johns Hopkins University's Dept. of International Health.

The briefing was sponsored by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

The international spread of infections is probably inevitable, noted Gerald Keusch, MD, the newly named assistant provost for global health at Boston University.

Microbes are propelled swiftly by international travel, global warming is changing the range of vector insects, and other environmental changes are instrumental in creating new pathogens, he said.

In addition, the long-term neglect of public health infrastructure, a recently recognized problem in the United States, is an even greater issue in foreign cities. There is a need to train more lab workers and construct additional facilities. Beyond that, "it is exceedingly important to build a global culture of science and shared values," he said.

Frequently the U.S. health system turns to overseas sources for its biomedical work force, Dr. Keusch said, providing yet another reason for adequate training and laboratories in other nations.

The emergence of bioterrorism also means that infectious diseases are a threat to the nation's security, noted Clarence J. Peters, MD, University of Texas professor of microbiology.

Emerging infectious diseases pose an economic threat. The price tag for SARS is estimated at around $8 billion. "Like it or not, we are a global community regarding disease-sharing," Dr. Peters said.