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The world can now maintain an acute infection in a way that is unprecedented in the history of life on our planet.

If you find diseases before they've really emerged, you can control them early on, before you get a major epidemic.

I am very puzzled by the fact that young people are getting infected again. They don't take precautions despite an enormous amount of information. It's like riding a race car at 200 kilometers an hour. Some people like the risk.

A more effective international disease surveillance system is essential for global security both against a bioterrorist attack or a naturally occurring disease.

To be able to detect the outbreak of avian flu anywhere in the world is going to require a partnership of several countries that will share information and samples, but it is important to remember a threat anywhere is a threat everywhere.

In today's world, it is shortsighted to think that infectious diseases cannot cross borders. By allowing developing countries access to generic drugs, we not only help improve health in those nations, we also help ourselves control these debilitating and often deadly diseases.

Infectious disease exists at this intersection between real science, medicine, public health, social policy, and human conflict. There's a tendency of people to try and make a group out of those who have the disease. It makes people who don't have the disease feel safer.

Without an adequate response, an epidemic can develop into a pandemic, which generally means it has spread to more than one continent.

Swine flu is not an anomaly. We know that swine flu - like the vast majority of new outbreaks - comes from animals. We should be monitoring those animals and the humans that come into contact with them, so we can catch these viruses early, before they infect major cities and spread throughout the world.

I believe we have to nip Ebola in the bud before it spreads through Africa and to other countries.