Associated Press - Friday November 2, 2001
George Gedda, Associated Press Writer

"The United States and the international community must not and will not let terrorism or microbes destroy the immense promise that this century holds for humankind," said Dr. Norman Neurieter, who advises Secretary of State Colin Powell on science and technology issues.

Neurieter addressed a State Department conference on global infectious disease and U.S. foreign policy. His address was to have been delivered by Powell, but the secretary was unable to appear because of a scheduling conflict. Neurieter said a swift response is needed to combat infectious disease because countries are becoming increasingly interdependent.

There should be no delays "regardless of whether the infection is deliberately spread by domestic or foreign terrorists or whether it is naturally occurring, as with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria," Neurieter said.

"Already these killers have taken the lives of tens of millions," he said. "They can devastate communities. They can cripple economies. They can decimate countries. They can destabilize regions and, left unchecked, perhaps engulf entire continents."

"HIV/AIDS kills over 8,000 people" every day, Neurieter said. "Twenty-two million have died from it since 1980 and 38 million are infected and will die within seven years."

Dr. John Lamontagne of the National Institutes of Health said 48 percent of all deaths of people under 45 and two-thirds of all deaths of children under 5 are the result of infectious disease.

Lamontagne said 1.5 million to 2.7 million deaths around the world each year are attributable to malaria. Every 20 to 30 seconds a child dies of malaria, he said.

He displayed a chart showing the problem is particularly acute in Africa, northern South America, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

"We have a tremendous problem ahead with malaria," Lamontagne said.
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