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WHO warns of global epidemic
risk
BBC
Thursday Aug 23, 2007
Infectious diseases are spreading faster than ever before, the
World Health Organization annual report says.
With about 2.1 billion airline passengers flying each year, there
is a high risk of another major epidemic such as Aids, Sars or
Ebola fever.
The WHO urges increased efforts to combat disease outbreaks,
and sharing of virus data to help develop vaccines.
Without this, it says, there could be devastating impacts on
the global economy and international security.
In the report, A Safer Future, the WHO says new diseases are
emerging at the "historically unprecedented" rate of
one per year.
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Since the 1970s, 39 new diseases have developed, and in the last
five years alone, the WHO has identified more than 1,100 epidemics
including cholera, polio and bird flu.
"It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that
there will not be another disease like Aids, another Ebola, or
another Sars, sooner or later," the report says.
See map showing recent emergence of infectious diseases
Sharing of medical data, skills and technology between rich and
poor nations is "one of the most feasible routes" to
health security, it says.
Openness needed
The WHO is embroiled in a dispute with Indonesia over its H5N1
bird flu virus samples.
Jakarta has refused to share its samples with the WHO amid fears
that pharmaceutical companies will use them to make vaccines that
are too expensive for Indonesia.
China only started sharing its H5N1 samples in June.
The WHO report also urges governments to be open about disease
outbreaks, saying nearly half of all outbreak alerts it receives
come from the media.
Drug resistance also poses a threat to disease control, the WHO
says, blaming misuse of antibiotics and poor medical treatment,
particularly in the case of tuberculosis.
In an introduction to the report, WHO Director-General Margaret
Chan says co-operation is crucial to combat outbreaks.
"Given today's universal vulnerability to these threats,
better security calls for global solidarity," Dr Chan says.
"International public health security is both a collective
aspiration and a mutual responsibility."
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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