When will it be that no resident will say.. I am sick... Ever..

What Is The Solution ?

There is a growing belief that mankind's well- being, and perhaps,
even our own survival as a species , will depend on our ablility to
detect emerging diseases..---

Where would we be today if HIV were to become an airborn pathogen ?

And what is there to say that a comparable infection might not do so
in the future ?"
said D.A Henderson who played a leading role in the eradication of
smallpox-- to a group of scientists in Geneva , Switzerland, in 1993.

How might emerging diseases be detected ?
An early warning system for tropical disease epidemics is a global network of 35
laboratories that report to the World Health Organization ( WHO ).

Yet , a survey of theses laboratories showed that fewer than half of them were equipped to identify Japanese encephalitis ,
hantavirus , and Rift Valley fever--all deadly diseases.

Only 56 percent could spot yellowfever a mosquito-born virus that causes vomiting,
liver failure, and internal bleeding.
In 1992 at least 28 people died in Kenya of yellow fever before doctors discovered the cause.
For 6 months they thought they were fighting malaria.

Another weakness of surveillance programs is that they cannot recognize
the emergance of slow- acting viral diseases.
HIV, for example, can hide inside a person, spread to others, and then manifest itself as AIDS up to ten years later.

The present AIDS pandemic emerged almost simutaneously on three
continents and quickly invaded 20 different nations.

Clearly, there was no early warning for that !