Emerging diseases: a global threat

A growing and globalizing threat of emerging and re-emerging diseases is best addressed through reliance on rapid detection, diagnosis, and containment. The efficiency and success of this approach depends on intricate networking and collaboration among all stakeholders including intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations and specialized agencies in the developed and developing countries. Such cooperation, while focusing on eliminating a growing threat, also helps avoid duplication of effort and improves use of scarce financial resources. This review provides a summary of the problem of emerging/re-emerging diseases and the effort being directed at controlling the threat. Opportunities are identified for a more coordinated approach to addressing the problem.