CDC Director Frieden: On Preventing A Pandemic

Photo Credit WHO

 

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Yesterday the CDC’s director Dr. Thomas Frieden held a telebriefing called  U.S. safer when CDC works with other countries to fight infectious diseases, to `discuss improvements in disease detection and response that may serve as a model for fighting infectious disease throughout the world’.

The transcript and audio are now available online, for those who were unable to attend.

 

Central to his presentation were two reports that appeared yesterday in the MMWR.

 

Rapidly Building Global Health Security Capacity — Uganda Demonstration Project, 2013

Strengthening Global Health Security Capacity — Vietnam Demonstration Project, 2013

 

Today, in a follow up, Dr. Frieden has penned a special blog post for CNN, where he discusses the dangers of a pandemic, and the steps that need to be put in place to prevent or mitigate its arrival.

 

08:49 AM ET

How to prevent the next pandemic

By Tom Frieden, Special to CNN

Editor’s note: Dr. Tom Frieden is the director for the Center for Disease Control. The views expressed are his own.

Today marks the Lunar New Year – and the world’s largest annual migration. There will be more than 3.6 billion transit trips within China, in addition to countless international trips. Yet this celebration comes at a time of growing concern about the H7N9 avian influenza virus. And this concern is not unfounded – should this virus change into a form that easily spreads between people, the world’s next pandemic could occur in the next three weeks.

This combination of mass travel and an emerging virus such as this should underscore the connectedness of health security between countries. Of course, H7N9 influenza is just one example of how the health security of all nations, including the United States, depends on the health security of each individual nation. And regardless of where outbreaks occur, stopping them at the source is the most effective and cheapest way to save lives at home and abroad.

(Continue . . . )

Referral: McKenna Interviews CDC Director Frieden On Shutdown

 

 

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Maryn McKenna, writing on her Superbug Blog, has a one-on-one interview with CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, who talks about how crippling this current government shutdown has been for CDC surveillance and other crucial operations.  

 

Follow the link below to read:

 

CDC Director: In the Shutdown, ‘We Are Juggling Chainsaws’

• By Maryn McKenna
• 10.16.13  2:19 PM

Webcast: CDC Director On International Disease Threats

Credit National Press Club

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CDC Director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden will appear today at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. to give a timely talk about the major health issues facing the world today – in particular focusing on emerging pathogens that can rapidly spread globally – in  a talk called `The Cough Heard Round The World’.

While no one is making any predictions for this fall and winter, the emergence of a new avian influenza (H7N9) in China, along with a steady flow of MERS-CoV reports from the Middle East, has public health officials on increased alert.

 

These are not the only `pandemic contenders’, of course.  H5N1 continues to circulate, we’ve been watching several variant swine influenzas over the past couple of years, and there’s always the possibility of having something come out of left field; Virus X . . . the one that isn’t on our radar, yet.

 

And there are other pathogenic travelers, that while unlikely to produce large epidemics, can spread to new regions and cause serious public health concerns.  Like dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya, Cholera, SFTS, CCHF, Lassa Fever, Ebola . . . .   the list is long, and growing.

 

Dr. Frieden’s talk, and a Q&A afterward, will be webcast live today.  Details are available from the following press release and from the National Press Club. This event will be webcast starting at 12:50 pm, September 10, 2013 —  live video at this link.

 

 

CDC Director to speak on the state of nation’s health security at the National Press Club

“The Cough Heard ‘Round the World”

What

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Tom Frieden  will speak on the state of our nation’s health security at the National Press Club’s Luncheon on Tuesday, September 10, 2013.  Dr. Frieden’s talk, The Cough Heard ‘Round the World, will identify imminent dangers to our health security – superbugs, disasters, and leading causes of death – and the strategies the nation’s health protection agency can use to thwart them.

A Q&A session will follow his remarks. Questions may be submitted for Dr. Frieden by emailing the National Press Club president (president@press.org with the subject line FRIEDEN) before 10:00 a.m. (ET) on September 10th.

When

Tuesday, September 10, 2013
1:00 p.m. (ET)

Where

National Press Club
529 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20045

Dr. Frieden’s remarks will also be broadcast live at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on the National Press Club’s website (http://press.org/). For more information about the event, click here.