Infectious Disease--A Threat to Global Health and Security

Two months ago the White House adopted a new national public health policy for dealing with ominous threats of emerging and reemerging infections. The policy was based on a report calledInfectious Disease—A Global Health Threat, released in September 1995.1The policy was initiated by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and is known as NSTC-7. The threats posed by infectious disease have engaged public concern via the media, the cinema, and many serious books and advisory pronouncements during the last several years,2-6as well as a new journal,Emerging Infectious Diseases, published quarterly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).7The January 17,1996, issue ofJAMAwas a theme issue on the same topic, in cooperation with 35 other medical journals around the world.8 Last month's headline was BSE (bovine spongiform encephalitis). As we go to press, this month belongs toCyclospora