From SARS to avian influenza, Ebola virus and MERS-CoV, infectious diseases have received increasing attention in recent decades from scientists, risk managers, the media and the general public. What explains the constant emergence of infectious diseases? What are the related challenges?

In five chapters, experts from different scientific fields analyse the ecological, social, institutional and political dynamics associated with emerging infectious diseases. This book discusses how the concepts, scientific results and action plans of international or governmental organizations are constructed and coordinated.

In clear straightforward language, this book explores the continuities and discontinuities that occur with emerging infectious diseases, both in terms of collective action and in our relationship to the biological world.

This book — coordinated by Serge Morand (Ecologist) and Muriel Figuié (Sociologist), and prefaced by Frédéric Keck (Anthropologist) — includes contributions from Claude Gilbert and Nathalie Brender (Political Scientists), François Roger (Veterinary Epidemiologist) and Patrick Zylberman (Health Historian).

Contents

• Foreword by Frédéric Keck, Anthropologist, CNRS
• Introduction
• 1. Biogeography and the ecology of emerging infectious diseases
  Serge Morand.
  • Characteristics of emerging infectious diseases
  • Factors of emergence: climate change, biodiversity, land use and globalization
  • Conclusion: Is the next plague certain?
• 2. From emergence to emergences - a focus on pandemic influenza
  Nathalie Brender and Claude Gilbert.
  • WHO re-appropriation of the issue
  • SARS, H5N1 and H1N1 - emergence catalysts
  • An issue seeking owners - the French case
• 3. Future as a moving target United States, CBRN risk and the scenario planning method: 1995–2008
  Patrick Zylberman.
  • Global setting
  • Immediate setting
  • Fortunes and misfortunes of triumphalism
  • Bill Clinton and the CRBN risk
  • George W. Bush - from prevention to preparedness
  • Scenario planning and worst-case scenarios
  • Stranglehold of fiction
• 4. Collective action in response to emerging zoonotic diseases
  Muriel Figuié.
  • Emerging zoonotic diseases - modern collective risks and collective action
  • Motives and barriers to collaboration between individuals
  • Challenges facing the expansion of collectives
  • A new paradigm for animal health?
  • Setting objectives for collective action against emerging zoonotic diseases
  • Acknowledgements
• 5. Surveillance of emerging diseases: challenges and contradictions
  François Roger.
  • Epidemiologic rupture or transition?
  • What ever happened to the seventh pandemic?
  • The Horseman on the Roof
  • Black swans and perfect storms
  • Surveillance at all costs?
  • Broadening the battlefield
• References
• Acronyms

This book is available in French under the title Émergence de maladies infectieuses - Risques et enjeux de société (978-2-7592-2490-6), also published by éditions Quæ.

Serge Morand Researcher, French national centre for scientific research (CNRS), Institut des sciences de l’évolution, université de Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France

French agricultural research and international cooperation organization (Cirad), unité de recherche Animal et gestion intégrée des risques (AGIRs), Campus international de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Muriel Figuié Researcher, French agricultural research and international cooperation organization (Cirad), UMR Moisa (Marchés, organisations, institutions et stratégies d’acteurs), Cirad ES, TA C 99-15, 73, avenue Jean-François Breton, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France