Emerging infectious diseases pose a risk to global health security through rapid dissemination and subsequent transmission in susceptible populations. The frequency of use and mobility afforded by modern air travel has created opportunities for both novel and reemerging infectious diseases to be transplanted within hours across continents, nations and countries. Historic examples include the 2003 SARS outbreak, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, and most recently the 2014 W. African Ebola outbreak. In almost every instance the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency of international concern and called for immediate prevention and control measures to be implemented. The emergence of Zika virus throughout the Americas in 2016 represents yet another iteration of this phenomenon.
Local public health authorities in concert with private healthcare and other community stakeholders will need to be on the forefront of surveillance, preparedness and response to global emerging infectious diseases in the coming decades. This presentation will highlight the existing threat, provide real-world examples of disease transmission via airline travel, discuss the role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in monitoring for international disease appearance and outline strategies that will minimize or limit transmission within local communities. Finally, the CDC "Global Health Security Agenda" will be briefly discussed in the context of the role of U.S public health authorities on the international front.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the threat of emerging infectious disease transmission via contemporary international and domestic airline travel.
2. Provide example of recent global infectious disease outbreaks in terms of severity, modes of transmission and impact on U.S. State and local public health agency preparedness and response activities.
3. Discuss the CDC's Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) in terms of strategic goals and objectives.
