CDC Director Reports On Field Visit To Ebola Affected Countries “I visited all three countries where Ebola is spreading. The men, women and children I met and spoke with, the health care workers responding to people from within countries, patients, the survivors and relatives of those who died will always be with me.” With these haunting words, CDC Director Tom Frieden opened his press briefing on September 2, 2014 to report on his recent trip to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in West Africa where Ebola is spreading.
Hopeful About Control According to Frieden, the number of cases continues to increase and is increasing rapidly. CDC has called the situation “daunting” but Frieden appeared still hopeful the outbreak could be brought under control, primarily because we know what to do. According to Frieden, “In theory, its not hard to stop Ebola…There’s nothing mysterious about what we need to do. The only real question is whether we will do it fast enough.” - CDC continues on page 2
More Than 1,000 Epidemiologists Converge On Anchorage for Triennial Meeting Of The International Epidemiological Association The scenery did not disappoint, nor did the summer weather. More than 1,000 epidemiologists from more than 30 different countries made their way to cool, sunny, and beautiful Anchorage Alaska in mid-August to participate in the 20th triennial meeting of the International Epidemiological Association. The meeting was bookended by an opening Cruickshank Lecture on
In This Issue
climate change by Australia’s Tony (AJ) McMichael and a closing Richard Doll lecture on halving premature mortality given by Oxford University’s Richard Peto. Indigenous dancers also helped to entertain participants and kick off the meeting on the theme of Global Epidemiology in a Changing Environment: The Circumpolar Perspective”. - IEA continues on page 9
"...we have lost a very precious and increasingly rarer personality, an epidemiologist for whom the future of human societies remained wide open, as if he were able to contemplate and believe in some form of utopic place that was fairer and healthier than our current one." -A. Morabia
September 2014 Volume Thirty Five Number Nine