Monday, December 10, 2012

Shrinking world means increasing health threats

A perfect storm is brewing for a global health threat. The combination of people moving more easily around the globe, climate change and humans entering animal habitats more often, is a recipe for a pandemic. Katie Gibas reports.

A perfect storm is brewing for a global health threat.
"There is an inevitability that there will be a global pandemic. There hasn't been a huge global outbreak since the late sixties and typically they come every 20 to 30 years, so we're overdue," said Paul Emerson, PhD, of The Carter Center.

Paul Emerson is a Global Health expert at The Carter Center in Atlanta. He's studied diseases all over the world. He says the combination of people moving more easily around the globe, climate change and humans entering animal habitats more often, is a recipe for a pandemic.
"You end up with essentially a ticking time bomb of health and when the next the next pandemic comes, which is likely to be a flu-like virus, it will make Hurricane Katrina look like a damp weekend," said Emerson.

Continued:  http://elmira-corning.ynn.com/content/health/619228/healthy-living--shrinking-world-means-increasing-health-threats/

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