We present here the proceedings of the 5th seminar on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), held in Paris on March 22nd, 2016, with seven priority proposals that can be outlined as follows:$\bullet$Encourage research on the prediction, screening and early detection of new risks of infection$\bullet$Develop research and surveillance concerning transmission of pathogens between animals and humans, with their reinforcement in particular in intertropical areas (`hot-spots') thanks to public support$\bullet$Pursue aid development and support in these areas of prevention and training for local health personnel, and to foster risk awareness in the population$\bullet$Ensure adapted patient care in order to promote adherence to treatment and to epidemic propagation reduction measures$\bullet$Develop greater sensitization and training among politicians and healthcare providers, in order to better prepare them to respond to new types of crises$\bullet$Modify the logic of governance, drawing from all available modes of communication and incorporating new information-sharing tools$\bullet$Develop economic research on the fight against EIDs, taking into account specific driving factors in order to create a balance between preventive and treatment approaches.
Nous présentons ici les actes du 5 e séminaire maladies infectieuses émergentes (MIE), qui
Maladies infectieuses émergentes, écologie, microbiologie, une seule santé, crise sanitaire, stratégies et politiques d’aide au développement
The objectives of the 5 th edition of the Val de Grace School’s seminar were to take a global, integrative approach to the emergence of new infectious disease agents, putting these in perspective relative to other types of risk, as well as studying crisis situations and the breaches brought on by the occurrence of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Two key conferences respectively opened and closed this annual seminar; the first was given by Dr. Peter Daszak (President of the EcoHealth Alliance and program director of USAID-EPT-PREDICT), the second by Dr. Patrick Lagadec (former research professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau).
Planned for an anticipated up to 200 participants, this seminar is designed for decisionmakers, experts, medical doctors and scientists interested in human and animal health, social sciences, environmental sciences, prospective analysis, biosecurity and defense. This day of presentations and debates is presented under the auspices of the French Social Affairs and Health Ministries, as well as that of the Environment, Energy and
Peter Daszak remarks today can be summed up in two primary messages, both personal and that of scientists from the EcoHealth Alliance. First, we must increase our research capabilities in order to understand the direct and less-direct causes of emerging infections if we hope to fight them once they become responsible for epidemics or pandemics. Secondly, this presentation was illustrated with a few projects concerning the economics of EIDs which reveal the extraordinary costs they incur for national economies.
There is at least one obvious reason to speak of this, which is that politicians and public decision-makers are in fact quite sensitized when the economic damage engendered by the latest epidemics and pandemics are explained to them. If one takes, for example, the SARS-Cov pandemic, it led to a 1 to 2% decrease in gross domestic product in several Southeast Asian countries, for an estimated overall cost of 30 to 50 billion US dollars, relative to the total number of approximately 800 people worldwide who were affected.
The appearance of new EIDs appears both more frequent and also vaster in terms of number of people affected these last years, many of these diseases appearing in developing or low-income countries. Taking the case of the Ebola virus (EBOV) epidemic which broke out in West Africa in 2014, it was much more widespread than any other epidemic to ever occur in Central Africa (400 people affected during an epidemic). It is very difficult in the United States -where Peter Daszak is working -to get public decisionmakers interested, as is true with the population which feels very distant from such problems. EcoHealth Alliance has tried to draw the media and the public’s attention to it, in vain! They only received one single email from the management of the Boston airport, informing us that our work on the risk of Ebola virus propagation via transcontinental air transport was unfounded and that the Boston airport couldn’t experience this type of threat. About a month later, when an American citizen was repatriated for treatment, the public began to panic; the media, particularly the TV channel CNN, exaggerated in broadcasting the issue, and the government took several decisions, notably regarding assistance and monitoring of international airports. These measures were decided upon no scientific basis in a moment of panic, and it seems that with every new worrisome EID, it’s the same story! The measures taken are often disproportionate to the seriousness of the phenomenon. Human demography has exploded in recent years, and populations today are concentrated in megalopolises. This tendency is even more marked in tropical areas in the South where there is also an important biodiversity of animal species.
Therefore, there exist today more opportunities for a virus or bacteria to pass from an animal to a human, then to propagate among the human population. International air transport makes possible the spread of these new infectious risks on a vast scale. What are governments doing faced with this type of threat when the demands on the part of the population are ever-increasing? Vaccines are also considered by the former as a weapon of total destruction, and by the public as a widely-available miracle tool. Neither is truly aware that it takes an average of 10 years to produce a vaccine. Also is it the right strategy in that it banks more on cure than on anticipation? In the U.S., President Obama opted for a development aid policy through USAID favoring training and improvement of human and technical capacities to prevent future EIDs in the most needy countries. The American Congress, however, did not follo
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