- WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United
States is ill prepared to deal with epidemics, either natural or by biological
weapon attack, according to a report Tuesday by the National Academy of
Science (NAC) that is highly critical of the US health care system.
-
- The country's procedure for sounding an alert to a genuine
epidemic "remains inadequate," said the report, adding, "The
nation should take decisive steps to fortify its public health system to
tackle microbes that trigger infectious diseases."
-
- Among the diseases cited were West Nile Fever, AIDS and
tuberculosis.
-
- "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
should craft innovative strategies to improve communication" for the
reporting of information among health care providers, clinical laboratories,
and state and local health officials, it said.
-
- US disease surveillance systems, the report found, "are
fragmented and have not kept up with technological advances that could
improve the timeliness and integration of data."
-
- Research and development of vaccines has also been "inadequate,"
it said. "Periodic shortages of existing vaccines have occurred. And
there is a lack of vaccines against infectious diseases that disproportionately
affect people in developing countries, such as malaria."
-
- The secretaries of Health and Human Services, Defense,
and Homeland Security "should join together with other top officials
from the public and private sector to take immediate action in all of these
areas," said the report.
-
- The report was released the same day that Secretary for
Homeland Security Tom Ridge unveiled his "Freedom Shield" plan
aimed at protecting the country from terrorist attack, including attack
by biological weapons.
-
- "On the whole, aggressively responding to microbial
threats is in America's economic, humanitarian and security interests and
should be a national priority," said the NAC report.
-
- It was also critical of the indiscriminate prescription
of antibiotics for patients without determining the precise cause of the
infection, a practice which it said increases resistance to antibiotics
and limits treatment options as fewer and fewer new drugs come onto the
market.
-
- The report also called on the US Food and Drug Administration
to "ban the use of certain anti-microbials for growth promotion in
animals if those same drugs may be used to treat illness in humans."
-
- The point, it said, would be to cut the chances of developing
drug-resistant organisms in animals that could spread to humans.
|
