WHO issues global epidemic risk warning

The World Health Organization has warned that with 2.1 billion airline passengers flying each year, the risk of a major epidemic, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or Ebola fever, is increased. The Geneva, Switzerland-headquartered international agency called for greater cooperation between governments to identify the onset and track the progression of epidemics.

A key element of any international effort to overcome epidemics is the sharing of data, a problem that has come to light recently with the reluctance of Chinese authorities and the outright refusal of the Indonesian government, to share avian influenza virus samples (Marketletters passim).

The WHO's latest report, A Safer Future, claims that new diseases are emerging at a rate of one per year. The UK's public broadcaster, the BBC, reports that since the 1970s, 39 new diseases have appeared, with 1,100 epidemics monitored by the WHO in the past five years alone. The agency added that about half of the outbreaks recorded were initially brought to its attention by media reports and not national governments' public health authorities.