Its a small small (dangerous) world

Sorry if this post reeks of teh scary, but there are things which should worry you, at least a little.

With an estimated 2.1 billion airline passengers roaming the planet last year alone, infectious diseases are spreading faster than ever before, the UN health agency said Thursday.

The World Health Organization called on governments to follow its revised regulations for fighting dangerous health crises.

"New diseases are emerging at the historically unprecedented rate of one per year," the WHO's director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, said in an introduction to the annual World Health Report.

"It would be extremely naïve and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like AIDS, another Ebola, or another SARS, sooner or later," the report said.

The thrust of WHO's efforts to protect global health has been the revision of the International Health Regulations, which came into effect in June. The voluntary regulations govern how countries should report potentially dangerous health emergencies to WHO.

Personal note: I went through the Taiwan airport during the height of the SARS epidemic. The little boy pictured above was not unusual. Almost everyone had masks on.

I, of course, was immortal and eschewed a mask. Because I'm posting now it is proof self-evident I am, in fact, immortal. Muahahaha.

Via International Herald Tribune (there are others).