Viruses have caused some of the most dramatic and deadly disease pandemics in human history At the time of this Forum workshop, March 18 and 19, 2014, the diseases that the Forum focused their attention on were the emergence of the MERS coronavirus in the Middle East and the H7N9 Influenza A virus in China. The Agenda of this meeting examined factors driving the appearance, establishment, and spread of emerging, reemerging, and novel viral diseases; the global health and economic impacts of recently emerging and novel viral diseases in humans; and the scientific and policy approaches to improving domestic and international capacity to detect and respond to global outbreaks of infectious disease. Ironically neither of these diseases has grown from regional to global concerns. Instead, On August 8, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be a “public health emergency of international concern,” triggering powers under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR). As of 26 March 2015, there have been over 25,000 cases and over 10,000 deaths due to Ebola virus disease since it was first reported in West Africa in March 2014. This will be the subject of a future Forum workshop summary report.Read more about this workshop summary report here.
At the time of this Forum workshop, March 18 and 19, 2014, the diseases that the Forum focused their attention on were the emergence of the MERS coronavirus in the Middle East and the H7N9 Influenza A virus in China. The Agenda of this meeting examined factors driving the appearance, establishment, and spread of emerging, reemerging, and novel viral diseases; the global health and economic impacts of recently emerging and novel viral diseases in humans; and the scientific and policy approaches to improving domestic and international capacity to detect and respond to global outbreaks of infectious disease. Ironically neither of these diseases has grown from regional to global concerns. Instead, On August 8, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be a “public health emergency of international concern,” triggering powers under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR). As of 26 March 2015, there have been over 25,000 cases and over 10,000 deaths due to Ebola virus disease since it was first reported in West Africa in March 2014. This will be the subject of a future Forum workshop summary report.Read more about this workshop summary report here.