Fauci Warns Against Coming Mosquito-Borne Diseases. Group Says The World Is Unprepared For Next Pandemic.

reports on efforts to combat “multiple mosquito-borne diseases” such as Zika, dengue, and chikungunya viruses. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, argues in a report in The New England Journal of Medicine, that the US should also be prepared “for a similar scenario.” USA Today points out that “there are no vaccines for chikungunya and Zika” and “no drugs” for any of them. Fauci and Morens call on the medical community to “up our game with broad and integrated research that expands understanding of the complex ecosystems in which agents of future pandemics are aggressively evolving.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/13/diseases-proliferate-mosquitoes-becoming-public-enemy-no-1/78755284/ reports the authors estimated that pandemics “could cost humanity $6 trillion in the 21st century, or $60 billion a year,” and “argued for the investing $4.5 billion a year—or 65 cents for every resident of the planet—to prepare.” The reports said that there are few threats “that can compare with infectious diseases in terms of their potential to result in catastrophic loss of life,” yet “nations devote only a fraction of the resources spent on national security to prevent and prepare for pandemics.” Moreover, the report said the WHO was “unprepared” to combat pandemics and needs to make “significant changes in order to play this role effectively.” They noted that “there is no realistic alternative” to the underfunded agency. The document was drawn up by 17 academics, policymakers, and nonprofit and industry leaders from around the world. Reuters (1/14, Kelland) says that the report by the Commission on Creating a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future was coordinated by the US National Academy of Medicine, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and several other organizations. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-13/a-billion-in-pandemic-prevention-is-worth-a-trillion-in-cure