What are the specific problems?

In the previous section we looked at the various reasons why infectious disease is a problem. In this video we hear from Dr John Gerrard about the specific issues we face in our fight against infectious diseases.

Dr Gerrard is Director of Infectious Diseases at Queensland’s Gold Coast University Hospital. Late in 2014 he was part of the first Australian team to set up a treatment centre in the ‘Ebola hot zone’ of Freetown. John says that at the time Freetown was the epidemic’s “worst-affected city, in the worst-affected country”, Sierra Leone. He describes the Ebola virus as one of the most lethal communicable diseases ever known to man.

Your Task

Now that you’ve listened to Dr Gerrard, tell us whether you think we are truly pandemic ready or not. Why?