Here's how we prevent the next killer virus

Last year, as the Ebola epidemic appeared to be contained, Bill Gateswarned, "There is a significant chance that an epidemic of a substantially more infectious disease will occur sometime in the next 20 years."

That same month, the spread of the Zika virus was linked to the harrowing increase in microcephaly among babies in Brazil — at a rate nearly 20 times greater than in previous years. The World Health Organization declared a public health emergency, but there were no anti-virals and no vaccines to battle the outbreak. The next epidemic was here, but we were no better prepared than we had been for Ebola.

The devastation imparted by the Zika virus, portrayed in the haunting images of babies with severe birth defects, is the latest example of the urgent need to better support medical research so we can respond effectively to new infectious diseases.

The lesson from Ebola — and before that, from HIV/AIDS — should have been that research to find treatments and vaccines requires sustained, proactive investment. The alternative, i.e., formulating solutions in the heat of a health crisis, is dangerously inadequate; reacting to each outbreak instead of consistently funding research means that we will always be behind, never ahead of the crisis.

see more at: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/04/why-zika-caught-the-world-by-surprise-commentary.html