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Global Awareness of Disease Outbreaks: The Experience of ProMED-mail

2001; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 116; Issue: 90002 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/phr/116.s2.27

1468-2877

M. Hugh-Jones,

Animal Disease Management and Epidemiology

Public Health Reports / 2001 Supplement 2 / Volume 116 27 ProMED-mail was established to provide an early global warning of emerging diseases of humans, animals, and plants as well as of disease activities signaling biological warfare and bioterrorist activities. The creation of the ProMED-mail system filled a vacuum highlighted by the 1992 Institute of Medicine’s seminal publication of the occurrence of emerging diseases and reasons why we are likely to see increasing numbers of outbreaks in both developing and developed countries. ProMED-mail has electronically knitted together a global cadre of emerging disease specialists and other interested parties. It has been not inaccurately described as “the CNN of outbreaks.” Its first posting was on August 22, 1994 on “Sabia and Other Rodent-Borne Viruses.” In its five years, it has grown from 40 members to some 18,277 in 160 countries with an unrestricted membership, now more than 20,000 members. During 1999, 2,226 messages were posted, averaging more than six each day, seven days a week. The program has few graphics and loads quickly in locations with slow connection to the Internet; the search engine connects to prior posting, and other links are available. Veterinary activities play a significant role in monitoring emerging diseases because they are central to understanding new diseases in animal populations. New diseases in animals have an impact in and of themselves, but they can also serve as comparative lessons on disease ecology. Most strikingly, they can involve significant outbreaks in human populations as new zoonoses emerge and are characterized. Time and again, over the past five years, new diseases in humans can only be fully understood when the animal components have been delineated. In 1999, 63% of all postings were of animal diseases and infections; this is not an unusual percentage. In the few years that ProMED-mail has been functioning, one has noticed a significant change in the attitude of the medical fraternity to veterinarians. It was slow at first, but after two years there was a sudden shift as they seemed to become aware of the central position of veterinary medicine to human health, quite apart from food hygiene and the other Global Awareness of Disease Outbreaks: The Experience of ProMED-mail