International Attention for Zoonotic Infections

movie of the 2006 summer season. It featured reptiles smuggled onto an airplane as an unusual bioweapon of mass destruction. In a much less dramatic fashion, this absurd scenario plays out every day, when tons of live animals and unprocessed animal products are shipped internationally around the globe, providing many opportunities for rapidly translocating zoonotic pathogens. Episodes of emerging zoonoses are being increasingly recognized around the world. From 1996 to 2004, some 21% of 10,490 reports of animal diseases from 191 countries submitted to the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) concerned humans affected by zoonotic disease (1). This zoonoses theme issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) corroborates this finding, presenting reports of zoonotic disease from all corners of the globe, including the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, Slovakia, Indonesia, the United States, Israel, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Brazil, Algeria, India, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Italy. As public health and animal health organizations attempt to respond to these emerging and reemerging zoonotic diseases, their ability and skill in forming new strategic partnerships are of paramount importance. This year was highlighted by the establishment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Collaborating Center for Emerging and Remerging Zoonoses. To initiate this collaborating center, the International Symposium on Emerging Zoonoses (ISEZ) was held in conjunction with the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases and the International Conference on Women and Infectious Diseases in Atlanta in March 2006. ISEZ was cosponsored by OIE, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Department of Interior US Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, the World Health Organization, and CDC. ISEZ was attended International Attention for Zoonotic Infections