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Infectious agents transmitted from animals to humans have caused 11 of the 12 major global disease outbreaks in the past decade, and the threat of avian influenza looms large. So it’s little wonder that approximately 600 health-care and public-health professionals turned out in late January for an all-day symposium on human health and animal disease, presented by the SPH Office of Public Health Practice. Among the speakers was Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, who reminded listeners that they had much to learn from previous outbreaks such as HIV/AIDS:

“As you know, anti-retrovirals have transformed the lives of HIV-infected individuals in a way that by any analysis is cost-effective,” Fauci said. “Because of investments put into drug development and testing, there are more antiviral drugs for HIV than the sum total of all antiviral drugs for every other viral disease combined. Now that really tells you something about the relationship between the resources that you put in and what you get out of it, and may serve essentially for a model for other issues that we approach in the arena of emerging diseases.”

To view a webcast of the symposium visit www.sph.umich.edu/micphp/symposium_2006.html.

Send correspondence about this or any Findings article to the editor at sph.findings@umich.edu. You will be contacted if your letter is considered for publication.