Infectious diseases: Global early-warning system needed
Researchers are calling for a global early-warning system to identify the sources of future human infectious disease. analysis compares the origins of temperate and tropical infectious diseases, and highlights how little we know about their evolution.
Most major human infectious diseases have animal origins, yet we continue to be bombarded by new animal pathogens, jumping across species barriers. So Jared Diamond and colleagues want to see a systematic ongoing global effort monitoring for emergent animal pathogens that could infect humans. People with high levels of exposure to wild animals, such as hunters, zoo workers and wildlife veterinarians, should be regularly screened, they say.
The team made their request after comparing the characteristics and origins of 15 temperate (such as whooping cough) and 10 tropical diseases (such as cholera). Most of the diseases studied arose in Africa, Asia and Europe, but the reasons for their emergence differed between regions — infections from animal and insect vectors, for example, were more common in the tropics.
The review reveals “big gaps in our understanding” of the origins of even established major infectious diseases, such as AIDS, cholera and tuberculosis. So alongside a global early-warning system for new human infectious diseases, the authors would also like to see more research to clarify the origins of existing infectious diseases. Such work could boost understanding of how diseases emerge and suggest new laboratory models for studying public health threats.
CONTACT
Jared Diamond (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 310 825 6177; E-mail: jdiamond@geog.ucla.edu

Nathan Wolfe (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA) Co-author
Tel: +1 310 794 7538; E-mail: nwolfe@ucla.edu