Global Pandemics: Threats and Challenges to Biosecurity
| Date | Friday, December 2, 2005 |
| Location | Russell Senate Office Building, Room 328A |
Dr. Julie Fischer, Senior Associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center will join us for a discussion on the threats posed by global pandemics including the potential challenge posed by avian flu. The World Health Organization has reported that 133 people have now been stricken with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, more than half the people infected - 68 - have died from the disease, which has also resulted in the death or destruction of more than 150 million birds. The last great pandemic occurred in 1918-19, when Spanish flu swept the world, killing 40 million people, including more than half a million in the United States. Dr. Fischer has been working with the Center for Disease Control in Thailand on disease surveillance and early warning systems. She will offer her insights on the nature and magnitude of the threats we face and the immediate and long-term options we have in response. How significant a threat does avian flu pose? What defenses are in place to detect a pandemic, including disease surveillance at home and abroad? What are the implications for public health systems and our responses to wider biological threats and challenges?