Emerging Infectious Diseases

The constantly changing climate for emerging and infectious diseases has been brought to the forefront globally over the past 2 years. It is more imperative now more than ever before to be able to respond quickly with preventative and therapeutic agents. It is also vitally important that there is access to diagnostic tools and predictive methodologies that will not only alert us to emerging diseases but also hopefully allow us to predict the occurrence of the next important outbreak. We currently live in a world where technology is advancing at the most rapid pace in history. Our goal should be to harness the power of these technologies and explore the best use of these new novel innovations to help us to more effectively control the spread and dissemination of these pathogenic agents; as well as quickly provide real world solutions to treating and preventing disease. Cutting edge technology should be flexible enough to rapidly adapt to the ever-changing environment of emerging and infectious diseases. Additionally, they should allow for faster developments and more flexible production that will allow us to rapidly move from an idea to a full- scale usable product, which is exactly what is needed today. Moreover, we all need to be much more willing to cooperate/collaborate forming multi-disciplinary teams and groups that includes diverse individuals from basic research to regulatory officials to supply chain/logistics to medical personnel, from both human and animal health perspectives. Protecting the global population of both human and animals should not be just a goal it should be our priority.