19 March 2003
Text: Greater Action Needed to Combat Infectious Disease, Report Finds
(Institute of Medicine recommends global response to increasing outbreaks) (2000) The U. S. government should be doing more to prepare for outbreaks of infectious diseases, both domestically and internationally, according to a report issued March 18 by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The report's list of recommendations call for upgrades in laboratory facilities, training programs, research, vaccine development and international cooperation. "Aggressively responding to microbial threats is in America's economic, humanitarian and security interests, and should be a national priority," said Margaret Hamburg, co-chair of the committee that wrote the report, according to an IOM press release. A number of trends have caused a decline in the capability of the nation's health care system to respond to infectious disease outbreaks, the report says, at the same time that increasing globalization and other factors have worked to heighten the threat of infectious diseases. The IOM report also recommends that U.S. health agencies coordinate activities with international organizations to improve disease surveillance around the world, with a particular focus on outbreaks in developing nations. The report is released the same week that an outbreak of an unknown flu-like illness is spreading in several Asian nations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been an active partner with other international organizations to determine the nature and cause of the disease. The Institute of Medicine is a private nonprofit institution that provides analysis and advice on health policy under a charter issued to the National Academy of Sciences by the U.S. Congress. This study was sponsored by CDC, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies. A report brief is available at http://www.iom.edu/iom/iomhome.nsf/WFiles/MicrobialThreat8pgFINAL/$file/MicrobialThreat8pgFINAL.pdf Following is the press release describing the IOM report: (begin text) National Academies Institute of Medicine March 18, 2003 America Should Foster Systematic Effort To Combat Infectious Diseases Here, Abroad WASHINGTON -- The nation should take decisive steps to fortify its public health system to tackle microbes that trigger infectious diseases such as West Nile encephalitis, AIDS, and tuberculosis, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. In addition, the U.S. government should play a significant role in building the capacity of poor countries to monitor, prevent, and respond to disease outbreaks. In the developing world, infectious diseases kill one in every two people. Microbial threats endanger public health across the globe. Moreover, the potential use of biological agents in terrorist attacks or warfare underscores the urgent need for better strategies and tools to grapple with infectious diseases, the report notes. "Infectious diseases cross national borders and require a global response, but the United States should help lead efforts to reverse the complacency in industrialized countries regarding this problem," said Margaret Hamburg, vice president for biological programs, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Washington, D.C., and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report. "On the whole, aggressively responding to microbial threats is in America's economic, humanitarian, and security interests, and should be a national priority." At the outset, America has a lot of work to do domestically. Its ability to track and respond quickly to infectious diseases rests on a public health infrastructure that has suffered from years of neglect, the report says. Efforts to prevent and control microbial threats must be enhanced and expanded at all levels of government. Upgrades in everything from laboratory facilities to training programs will require much larger, and sustained, investments. The National Institutes of Health, working with other federal research institutions, also should develop a comprehensive research agenda for infectious-disease prevention and control. The committee pointed out several major areas of concern. Reporting of infectious diseases by health care providers and clinical laboratories to both state and local health officials remains inadequate, for instance. Open lines of communication and solid working relationships among providers, laboratories, and public health authorities are critical to maintaining effective infectious-disease surveillance systems - and successfully carrying out response activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should craft innovative strategies to improve communication among these groups. Likewise, a skilled health care work force is essential. Knowledge of how to confront microbial threats should be fully integrated into training programs for all health care professionals, the committee said. Specifically, CDC, NIH, and the U.S. Department of Defense should expand existing programs and develop new ones that educate health care workers about field-based and laboratory approaches to preventing infectious disease in this country and abroad. Also, health care professionals also should heed the importance of etiologic diagnosis, which identifies the microbial causes of infectious diseases, the report says. Along with surveillance, such diagnoses are the cornerstone of control and prevention measures. For various reasons, etiologic diagnoses have decreased significantly over the past decade. The result has been a dangerous overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat illness, fueling microbial resistance to therapeutic drugs. Public health agencies and professional societies should disseminate and publicize guidelines calling for widespread use of etiologic diagnostic tools. Also, CDC and other federal agencies should work together with private industry to develop and assess new diagnostic tests. At the same time, efforts to educate practitioners and the public about inappropriate uses of therapeutic drugs should be strengthened. A steady, global increase in the number of microbial agents that are resistant to available therapies has made it difficult to treat infections, the committee said. This problem is compounded by the pharmaceutical industry's decreased development and production of new anti-microbials, compared with previous years. The report also urges the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of certain anti-microbials for growth promotion in animals if those same drugs may be used to treat illness in humans. The goal should be to reduce the chances of developing drug-resistant organisms in animals that could eventually spread to people. Concerns about vaccines have mounted, too. Research and development initiatives have been inadequate. Periodic shortages of existing vaccines have occurred. And there is a lack of vaccines against infectious diseases that disproportionately affect people in developing countries, such as malaria. Looking at the big picture, the report calls for high-level federal leadership to accelerate the development of new anti-microbials, maintain adequate vaccine supplies, and implement a U.S. national vaccine strategy to resolve the concerns. The secretaries of Health and Human Services and Defense and the director of Homeland Security should join together with other top officials from the public and private sectors to take immediate action in all of these areas. Their work should include partnerships with global organizations to promote the creation and distribution of vaccines against the diseases that are devastating the developing world. An aggressive campaign to produce new pesticides and repellents to combat mosquitoes and other carriers of infectious diseases also is needed. As for U.S. disease-surveillance systems, they are fragmented and have not kept up with technological advances that could improve the timeliness and integration of data, the report notes. The CDC should set up a national electronic reporting system that feeds data from major clinical laboratories to state health departments, including information about patterns of microbial resistance. And the federal government should support research on innovative surveillance approaches that take advantage of cutting-edge information technology. Any new processes should be carefully evaluated before they are put in place, however. Similarly, global surveillance is key to responding to and containing microbial threats before isolated outbreaks mushroom into regional or worldwide pandemics. The United States should work with key international agencies, such as the World Health Organization, to build up existing surveillance initiatives around the world - focusing on microbial threats in developing nations. Assistance should include financial and technical support. In the long run, America should take a leadership role in promoting a comprehensive system of surveillance for global infectious diseases. "Still, this effort should be multinational because it will require regional and global coordination, advice, and resources from participating nations," said committee co-chair Joshua Lederberg, professor emeritus and Sackler Foundation Scholar, Rockefeller University, New York City. "In the context of infectious diseases, we all share the same landscape." The human element plays a critical role in interactions that result in disease emergence, the report says. Increases in the size and density of populations can promote the spread of disease, for example. Land development may situate people close to wild animals that carry pathogens. And individual behavior, such as unprotected sexual activity or use of intravenous drugs, can lead to the transmission of a number of diseases. Several other factors contribute to the emergence of disease. In shipping goods from one place to another, people may unknowingly transport a disease carrier, and they can carry diseases during travel to and from international destinations. Breakdowns in public health measures - especially a lack of potable water or basic sanitation - have dramatically raised the persistence of infectious diseases throughout the world. The risk of intentional biological attacks also remains high. The study was sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Ellison Medical Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Joint Institute for Food Safety Research. The Institute of Medicine is a private, nonprofit institution that provides health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences. A committee roster follows. INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE Board on Global Health Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health in the 21st Century Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. (co-chair) Vice President for Biological Programs Nuclear Threat Initiative Washington, D.C. Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D. (co-chair) Professor Emeritus and Sackler Foundation Scholar Rockefeller University New York City Barry J. Beaty, Ph.D. University Distinguished Professor Department of Microbiology College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Colorado State University Fort Collins Ruth L. Berkelman, M.D. Professor Department of Epidemiology Rollins School of Public Health Emory University Atlanta Donald S. Burke, M.D. Professor Departments of International Health and Epidemiology Bloomberg School of Public Health Johns Hopkins University Baltimore Gail H. Cassell, Ph.D. Vice President of Scientific Affairs, and Distinguished Research Scholar in Infectious Diseases Eli Lilly and Co. Indianapolis Jim Yong Kim, M.D., Ph.D. Co-Director Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change Harvard Medical School Boston Keith P. Klugman, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of International Health Department of International Health Rollins School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases School of Medicine Emory University Atlanta Adel A.F. Mahmoud, M.D., Ph.D. President Merck Vaccines Merck and Co. Inc. Whitehouse Station, N.J. Linda O. Mearns, Ph.D. Scientist and Deputy Director Environmental and Societal Impacts Group National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colo. Frederick A. Murphy, D.V.M., Ph.D. Professor Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine University of California Davis Michael T. Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H. Director Center for Infectious Disease Research and Public Policy, and Professor School of Public Health University of Minnesota Minneapolis Clarence J. Peters, M.D. Professor Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Pathology University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston Patricia Quinlisk, M.D., M.P.H. Iowa State Epidemiologist Iowa Department of Public Health Des Moines Frederick Sparling, M.D. Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Robert G. Webster, Ph.D. Professor Virology Division Department of Infectious Diseases, and Rose Marie Thomas Chair St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Memphis, Tenn. Mark L. Wilson, Sc.D. Associate Professor of Epidemiology, and Associate Chair Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Michigan Ann Arbor Mary E. Wilson, M.D. Associate Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School, and Associate Professor of Population and International Health Harvard School of Public Health Boston INSTITUTE STAFF Mark Smolinski, M.D., M.P.H. Study Director (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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