Infectious diseases are a global calamity waiting to happen

As microbes become resistant to treatments, the international community must pool its resources and expertise and create a not-for-profit taskforce to develop new drugs and prevent catastrophe, says Tadataka Yamada

THE treatment or prevention of infectious diseases has not made quantum advances since the early successes of vaccines and antimicrobial therapies. The world is headed backward, as once-treatable microbes become resistant to existing therapies, and new infections, for which there are no effective interventions, continue to arise.

This is a serious and imminent threat to the world. Witness the global impact of the 2014 ebola crisis in West Africa, or the 2003 Sars outbreak, which jeopardised even wealthy economies, like Singapore and Canada.