CNN.com - Health - Experts see increased threat from new infectious diseases -

April 27, 2000

http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/04/26/emerging.infections/index.html

Experts see increased threat from new infectious diseases

From staff and wire reports

April 26, 2000

Web posted at: 5:10 p.m. EDT (2110 GMT)

ATLANTA -- Disease outbreaks with unusual sources are becoming more common

and complicated, according to four separate articles on infectious disease

occurrences in this week's New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Infectious diseases kill 13 million people annually, making them the world's

leading killer. These new outbreaks make doctors and public health officials

especially nervous because they are examples of emerging infections -- new

microbes that frequently resist antibiotic treatment.

The NEJM articles focus on four separate outbreaks. One reports on 1,500

people in Italy who became ill from listeria that came from corn. Another

deals with a Nebraska boy who contracted antibiotic-resistant salmonella

from infected cows that had been given antibiotics. A third looks at an

outbreak in Malaysia in which 32 people died from encephalitis resulting

from contact with pigs. And the final report focuses on a diabetic Atlanta

boy who twice had bowel surgery to treat a severe bacterial infection after

eating a holiday chitterlings dinner.

Deadly microbes appearing in the last 50 years

Legionnaires' disease

Toxic shock syndrome

AIDS

Hantaviruses

Ebola

Lyme disease

" Mad cow " disease

West Nile encephalitis

Drug-resistant tuberculosis

Experts are increasingly worried that many countries, including the United

States, won't know what to do when the next dangerous microbe strikes.

" The microbes are challenging us in ways we wouldn't have imagined 10 years

ago and for which we're not prepared, " said Dr. , director of

the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention.

Because bacteria and viruses multiply at a fast pace, they can quickly

evolve into more aggressive strains.

" For many of us in the business, it's a lot like trying to swim up a raging

river. said Dr. Osterholm of ican Inc., an Internet information

company focusing on infectious diseases.

Osterholm wrote an editorial on emerging infections accompanying the four

NEJM reports.

Experts say there are many reasons for the emergence and re-emergence of

these deadly microbes. The increased use of antibiotics in animals and

people helps these germs become drug-resistant. Growing populations in

unsanitary conditions and the breakdown of public health infrastructure in

many places are also factors.

But the threat of emerging infections has not caught public health officials

completely unaware. A 1992 Institute of Medicine report outlined some of the

national and international dangers presented by these diseases. This report

led the CDC and World Health Organization to begin addressing some of the

problems.

As a result, said, food safety has been improved, tracking of disease

outbreaks is better and the CDC has a comprehensive plan to deal with other

threats. But Congress has only funded half of that effort.

Republican Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, a doctor, is fighting for more

funding to study infectious diseases.

" These bacteria, these germs, are tenacious, they are cagey, they are

changing about a hundred thousand times faster than our bodies are, " said

Frist.

Frist also points out that spread is a concern. These germs can travel on

food, which is often shipped around the world, or on people.

" Today, in 30 hours, you can literally travel to the other side of the

world. And likewise, while you are there, you can pick up a germ or a

micro-organism that may not exist on this side of the globe and within 30

hours you can have that back in the United States, " Frist said.

Medical Correspondent Cohen and The Associated Press contributed

to this report.

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