Groups recommend additional U.S. action to prepare for emerging infections

Trust for America’s Health, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and UPMC Center for Health Security today called on the United States to take additional steps to prepare for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus and other emerging infections. The report calls for action to strengthen communication strategies; incorporate health alerts into practice; routinely take complete travel histories; build on Ebola and all-hazards preparedness; modernize disease surveillance; and advance a shared framework for quarantine decisions. “The country tends to let enhanced infectious disease containment capabilities lapse as soon as a crisis is over,” the report states. “Infectious disease preparedness requires ongoing investments in public health investigative and disease response capabilities, hospital preparedness and infection control practices, and research and effective communications channels.”