Analysis: Lessons from past outbreaks can stop new epidemics in their tracks

Lessons from past outbreaks can stop new epidemics in their tracks | CNN In late June of this year, Ghana's health authorities received some disturbing news: Two cases of viral hemorrhagic fever were detected in the country. Blood samples from the infected individuals came back positive for Marburg virus, a deadly disease that can kill most of those infected. Dr. Tom Frieden,Precious Matsoso CNN

...

The public and the media tend to focus on what’s going wrong: Covid-19, monkeypox, polio, and now Ebola. But this focus obscures what is happening on the ground, every day: Local and national public health workers and epidemiologists, or “disease detectives,” around the world are stopping outbreaks in their tracks and preventing epidemics.

To celebrate these efforts, Resolve to Save Lives has issued its second report on “Epidemics That Didn’t Happen.” The new report details six outbreaks that were stopped in 2021 – stories that otherwise would not make headlines but that offer valuable insights into what public health can and does do right. The case studies show what is possible when local, state and national communities mobilize a whole-of-society effort to prevent epidemics.

...