2008 Woodie Awards
Global health expert to discuss pandemics
Rose Bittner
Issue date: 1/9/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
"This is the black death. This is the 14th century black death! We are witnessing nothing less than that in Africa right now!" states Laurie Garrett's informational Web site.
Garrett, an expert on global health and emerging and re-emerging diseases, will give a presentation at UMKC this Thursday about the flu and national security. She forsees consequences nothing short of apocalyptic.
"What we are watching die is not just people. Entire cultures are disappearing before our eyes right now," Garrett writes on her Web site. "It is a far more dramatic holocaust than anything we have seen in hundreds of years."
Although what Garrett preaches may sound a bit extreme, the risks are still present.
In a normal flu season, about 200,000 Americans are hospitalized, 38,000 of whom die from the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Potential pandemic epidemics have always been a threat. Epidemics such as AIDS, SARS, West Nile Virus and Mad Cow Disease are household words.
Lately, the H5N1 avian, an influenza virus that presented itself in a southern part of China in 1997, has been cause for alarm. One hundred and nine people have contracted this particular strain, and according to Foreign Affairs, 54 percent of them have died.
Garrett has been awarded the Peabody, the Polk (twice), and the Pulitzer prizes for her work. She is also credited for calling attention to the possibility of an avian flu pandemic early on in summer 2005.
As a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council of Foreign Relations, Garrett approaches this topic with foresight. She has suggested this disease has the potential to interrupt the world's economies, the military and transportation.
The UMKC lecture, entitled "The New Pandemic: Flu and National Security," is sponsored by The International Relations Council, the UMKC School of Medicine, the UMKC Center for International Academic Programs and Saint Luke's Hospital. Other sponsors include Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust, Harry Portman Charitable Trust, Prime Health Foundation, and Metropolitan Official Health Agency of the Kansas City Area.
There is no charge to attend the Jan. 12 program in Pierson Auditorium, but reservations must be made to guarantee a seat. To make reservations call (816) 221-4204 or visit www.irckc.org.
'The New Pandemic: Flu and National Security'
Date
Jan. 12 - 7:30 p.m.
Place
Pierson Auditorium
Price
Free
Reservations required
(816) 221-4204
www.irckc.org
rbittner@unews.com
Garrett, an expert on global health and emerging and re-emerging diseases, will give a presentation at UMKC this Thursday about the flu and national security. She forsees consequences nothing short of apocalyptic.
"What we are watching die is not just people. Entire cultures are disappearing before our eyes right now," Garrett writes on her Web site. "It is a far more dramatic holocaust than anything we have seen in hundreds of years."
Although what Garrett preaches may sound a bit extreme, the risks are still present.
In a normal flu season, about 200,000 Americans are hospitalized, 38,000 of whom die from the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Potential pandemic epidemics have always been a threat. Epidemics such as AIDS, SARS, West Nile Virus and Mad Cow Disease are household words.
Lately, the H5N1 avian, an influenza virus that presented itself in a southern part of China in 1997, has been cause for alarm. One hundred and nine people have contracted this particular strain, and according to Foreign Affairs, 54 percent of them have died.
Garrett has been awarded the Peabody, the Polk (twice), and the Pulitzer prizes for her work. She is also credited for calling attention to the possibility of an avian flu pandemic early on in summer 2005.
As a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council of Foreign Relations, Garrett approaches this topic with foresight. She has suggested this disease has the potential to interrupt the world's economies, the military and transportation.
The UMKC lecture, entitled "The New Pandemic: Flu and National Security," is sponsored by The International Relations Council, the UMKC School of Medicine, the UMKC Center for International Academic Programs and Saint Luke's Hospital. Other sponsors include Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust, Harry Portman Charitable Trust, Prime Health Foundation, and Metropolitan Official Health Agency of the Kansas City Area.
There is no charge to attend the Jan. 12 program in Pierson Auditorium, but reservations must be made to guarantee a seat. To make reservations call (816) 221-4204 or visit www.irckc.org.
'The New Pandemic: Flu and National Security'
Date
Jan. 12 - 7:30 p.m.
Place
Pierson Auditorium
Price
Free
Reservations required
(816) 221-4204
www.irckc.org
rbittner@unews.com
