“Globalization makes it possible for viruses to travel on a plane anywhere in the world which means that health threats can easily make headway in our international environmentally connected air” according to Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) speaking at the National Press Club on September 10th.
He talked about the three actions that need to be addressed in the public health field today. The first action involves dealing with emerging infections such as the H7N9 influenza and the MERS coronavirus. He pointed out the value of how helpful public health collaboration can be in seeking answers to successfully protect communities and individuals from being immersed in a H7N9 global pandemic.
The second action to take is to deal with drug resistant diseases such as tuberculosis. In fact, as Dr. Frieden reports, antimicrobial resistance has spread in hospitals in the U.S and also some strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria are also spreading in long-term care facilities. He discussed how important it is to deal with drug resistant diseases not only throughout the U.S healthcare system but also globally.
The third action involves dealing with the possible threats concerning the spread of intentional diseases such as anthrax when used as an intentional weapon. Dr. Frieden gave an example of how the plague cluster in Uganda could be a major problem, since public health officials think that plague may potentially be used as a bio weapon.
In order to stop the spread of diseases, scientists have to be able to use molecular techniques to unlock the genomic revolution on microbes and on the human/microbe interaction. According to Dr. Friedan, it used to take months to sequence a tiny part of a genome and then take months to try to interpret the massive amount of data obtained.
Today, that same test can be done with a tiny chip in just three hours. However, the scientific community hasn’t yet been able to determine quickly and apply what information is useful and what may not be useful.
Just by having the capability to effectively use what is called “big data”, CDC could enhance molecular based science and bioinformatics. It would then be possible to rapidly and precisely diagnose infectious diseases, quickly control outbreaks, be able to predict patterns of disease, tackle antimicrobial resistant microbes before they spread, and target prevention measures like vaccines.
As reported recently in the news, CDC awarded $75.8 million through an Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) infectious disease program that is going to help states and communities strengthen core epidemiology and laboratory capacity.
The CDC funding through this new Cooperative Agreement will help build up the public health workforce, develop surveillance systems, modernize laboratory facilities, and enhance health information networks. CDC funding is going to help pay for more than 1,000 full and part time positions in the states, territorial, local, and tribal health departments.
However, as Dr. Frieden, reports, “In order to meet all of CDC’s goals to provide funding for future projects, the CDC budget must be increased since in the past few years, CDC’s budget has not fared well in budget discussions. In fact, CDC’s budget authority is the lowest it has been in a decade.”