Bill Gates thinks a coming disease could kill 30M people within 6 months(uk.businessinsider.com)
uk.businessinsider.com
Bill Gates thinks a coming disease could kill 30M people within 6 months
http://uk.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-warns-the-next-pandemic-disease-is-coming-2018-4
14 comments
I think something needs to be tuned up a little, the six months estimate does not mean six months from now but six months after the patient zero and transmission to the surrounding epideme.
between natural process, manmade pathogens, weaponized pathogens, and relic pathogens emerging from permafrost older than mankind, we collectively as a species need some consensus.
typically overpopulations are inescapably corrected by starvation, or disease.
Pandemic is a great cooperative board game. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549/pandemic
Surprisingly hard too. There's never enough time and always too many outbreaks.
“shut down everything”
Perhaps relevant: ebola outbreak 3D from last month:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18393509
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18393509
Too bad we are not renewing CDC funding for fighting global disease outbreaks.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cdc+funding+trump&source=lmn...
https://www.google.com/search?q=cdc+funding+trump&source=lmn...
The 80% is questionable news but that is not what I posted. The CDC had money earmarked for pandemic prevention and that money will run out in 2019. It has not been renewed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/02/cdc-fundi...
”That money has been used well, to train epidemiologists, buy equipment, upgrade labs, and stockpile drugs. If it disappears, progress will halt, and potentially reverse. The CDC, for example, would have to pull back 80 percent of its staff in 35 countries, breaking ties with local ministries of health.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/02/cdc-fundi...
”That money has been used well, to train epidemiologists, buy equipment, upgrade labs, and stockpile drugs. If it disappears, progress will halt, and potentially reverse. The CDC, for example, would have to pull back 80 percent of its staff in 35 countries, breaking ties with local ministries of health.”
It has not been renewed.
This mentions a lot of great tactics. Rapid diagnosis, treating secondary illnesses, antivirals, vaccines, etc.
This article didn't talk about preventative measures, although I know Gates has committed big money towards toilets and hygiene. That, to me, is just as important as all that other stuff combined. Not to mention bednets to prevent malaria, water filters, ensuring access to condoms, etc.
Additionally, there should be more focus on other types of preventative measures that even affect developed countries. Improved ventilation on public transit, improved hygiene within hospitals, harm reduction sites for intravenous drug users, reducing the amount of unnecessary contact in public spaces (doors, faucets, garbage cans, water fountains, etc), and reducing risks on shared contact tools where touch is necessary like railings or touchscreens.
We also know certain types of products are known to be disease vectors, like bagged lettuce... but there's not even warning labels or any kind of safety initiatives there.
And a pie in the sky dream that I have would be something like a continuous integration system for food safety testing. Every product from every brand could be put through some kind of distributed testing network and regularly tested for pathogens and toxins.
We sort of do this with air quality and water quality testing, but it also could be improved with more frequent reporting, and more redundancy.
This article didn't talk about preventative measures, although I know Gates has committed big money towards toilets and hygiene. That, to me, is just as important as all that other stuff combined. Not to mention bednets to prevent malaria, water filters, ensuring access to condoms, etc.
Additionally, there should be more focus on other types of preventative measures that even affect developed countries. Improved ventilation on public transit, improved hygiene within hospitals, harm reduction sites for intravenous drug users, reducing the amount of unnecessary contact in public spaces (doors, faucets, garbage cans, water fountains, etc), and reducing risks on shared contact tools where touch is necessary like railings or touchscreens.
We also know certain types of products are known to be disease vectors, like bagged lettuce... but there's not even warning labels or any kind of safety initiatives there.
And a pie in the sky dream that I have would be something like a continuous integration system for food safety testing. Every product from every brand could be put through some kind of distributed testing network and regularly tested for pathogens and toxins.
We sort of do this with air quality and water quality testing, but it also could be improved with more frequent reporting, and more redundancy.
As luck would have it, this story is on the front page of HN right now about testing agricultural water for pathogens.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18535425
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18535425
The world's immune system at work.
Pandemics are scary.