For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts
Oneindia App Download

World at risk of 'inevitable' disease pandemic

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

Washington, July 21 : The world is at the risk of an 'inevitable' disease pandemic, which could kill 50 million people and wreak massive disruption around the globe, the Brit Government has warned.

In a report, the House of Lords Intergovernmental Organisations Committee said that new infectious disease are emerging and being given the opportunity to spread because of changes in ways of life.

The committee called for urgent improvements to international surveillance so that action can be taken against outbreaks of infectious disease before they develop into pandemics.

Describing the World Health Organisation as 'dysfunctional', the committee said that it should be organised to cope with the threat.

The committee heard evidence that while there had not been a pandemic since 1968, another one was inevitable.

They were told by ministers: "Estimates are that the next pandemic will kill between two million and 50 million people worldwide and between 50,000 and 75,000 in the UK. Socio-economic disruption will be massive."

The committee said that with three quarters of newly emerging human infections originating from animals, more stringent ways of detecting diseases are needed.

"The last 100 years have seen great advances in public health and disease control through the world, but globalisation and changes in lifestyles are giving rise to new infections and providing opportunities for them to spread rapidly," the Telegraph quoted Lord Soley, the chairman of the committee, as saying.

"We are particularly concerned about the link with animal health," he added.

The peers called for the Government to consider urgently how it funds aid projects in developing countries so the funds can also help Britain's defences against a pandemic.

While the last two pandemics in the 1950s and 1960s were triggered by mild strains of influenza, future ones could be far more serious, particularly if linked to the H5N1 strain of bird flu a type that has already jumped species from birds to humans.

According to the report, bird flu 'at some point in the near future' could become capable of 'human to human transmission'.

ANI

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X