|Videos|September 12, 2022

Preparing for Future Viral Outbreaks in a Global Community

Ambassador Deborah Birx, MD, believes not enough is doing to prepare for future pandemics. What are her recommendations? Find out in this final installment of her interview with Infection Control Today.

After SARS-CoV-2, researchers are concerned about preparing for the next viral outbreak and where the virus will come from. Infectious diseases do not stay isolated for long in modern times because we are a global community. How we prepare for future outbreaks—even pandemics—will require testing, treatment, prevention, and vaccinations worldwide.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Infection Control Today® (ICT®) Ambassador Deborah Birx, MD, discussed her presentation titled, “COVID-19 USA - Lessons and new tools to improve workplace safety" at the "Frontline Worker Safety in the Age of COVID-19: A Global Perspective” a Health Watch USA Webinar on September 14, 2022. In this final installment of the interview, she also expressed her concerns about how future viruses may spread from more tropical climates to wider areas because of climate change and how the world should prepare for them.

Birx is a world-renowned medical expert whose long career has focused on clinical and basic immunology, infectious disease, pandemic preparedness, vaccine research, and global health.

She served the United States as an Army Colonel and later, running some of the most high-profile and influential programs at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Department of State. Birx served as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator during the Trump Administration.

“With increasing temperatures, many of these viruses that were isolated to tropical areas may become prominent, and from what were semi-tropical, or even temperate climates,” Birx told ICT®. “This is a deep concern because as a global population, we have worked so hard to improve treatment to cancer, [and] we've ignored viral diseases, both from their diagnostics and their treatment…we're not making investments for the medium term; we can see that all of these diseases are escalating as climate changes, as the more importantly, as the human population interacts.”

This is the fourth of 4 installments.

The first installment of the interview is here.

The second installment of the interview is here.

The third installment of the interview is here.


Related to this article

Image of Pathogens flying   (Adobe Stock weerasak)
Behind every landmark in infection prevention, from antimicrobial stewardship guidelines to the COVID-19 town halls that reached flight attendants and teachers, is a generation of physician-scientists who led SHEA through crises, organizational change, and scientific breakthroughs. Infection Control Today traces 30 years of SHEA presidents and the lasting mark they left on the field.
A brightly lit Hospital operating room, a surgical team wearing gowns and masks.  (Adobe Stock 1790696595 by Damian)
Turnover pressure can leave critical OR cleaning steps unfinished. Karen deKay, MSN, RN, EBP-C, CNOR, CIC, FAPIC, examines common gaps in environmental hygiene and how shared responsibilities, attention to disinfectant contact time, and ongoing education can help teams strengthen practices between cases.