tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
OTTAWA ? Up to three-quarters of all emerging infectious diseases in humans come from animals, but Canada doesn?t have an early-warning system to detect or prevent those illnesses.
Instead, public-health officials respond as outbreaks occur, which is neither smart nor economically sound with a resurgence in new viruses, experts say.
Last year?s H1N1 flu pandemic should serve as a wake-up call for the country to build a robust system to track diseases that could leap from animals to humans, says Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto?s Mount Sinai Hospital.
The H1N1 virus ? a hybrid of swine, bird and human flu ? started in pigs, then jumped to humans, where it adapted to infect millions of people and kill an estimated 17,000 worldwide.
?Part of the problem that I think has been recognized with this pandemic is the major gaps and lack of surveillance that?s been done in animals,? says Low, who?s also medical director of Ontario?s public-health laboratories.
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Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/heal...ions+experts/3062136/story.html#ixzz0ojSPDoYA
Instead, public-health officials respond as outbreaks occur, which is neither smart nor economically sound with a resurgence in new viruses, experts say.
Last year?s H1N1 flu pandemic should serve as a wake-up call for the country to build a robust system to track diseases that could leap from animals to humans, says Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto?s Mount Sinai Hospital.
The H1N1 virus ? a hybrid of swine, bird and human flu ? started in pigs, then jumped to humans, where it adapted to infect millions of people and kill an estimated 17,000 worldwide.
?Part of the problem that I think has been recognized with this pandemic is the major gaps and lack of surveillance that?s been done in animals,? says Low, who?s also medical director of Ontario?s public-health laboratories.
......
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/heal...ions+experts/3062136/story.html#ixzz0ojSPDoYA