title: Meeting report: How to get wrong things right--a discussion over current and future pandemic infectious diseases.
abstract: Infectious diseases have played a substantial part in shaping the history of humanity. In a discussion at a recent EMBL-EMBO science and society symposium entitled 'The future of our species', several experts discussed how infectious diseases are still influencing our world today. Here we present examples from recent and current infectious disease epidemics followed by a discussion of the local, national and international response to these. Special emphasis is laid on how the change of our environment can augment the world-wide spread of infectious diseases and the role of education in limiting this spread. An urgent need for improved coordinative efforts in globally combating infectious diseases is called for and examples are highlighted.
authors.affiliation: University of Heidelberg Medical School, Germany. freddy.frischknecht@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frischknecht
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lepper
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cyrklaff
mesh_terms: D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans