The nation's most senior public health official discussed the need for foresight in addressing health issues in her speech at Duke Thursday night.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gave her speech "Beyond Katrina: Scaling Up for Pandemic Influenza," at the Fuqua School of Business.
"We need imagination to deal with problems that are facing us," Gerberding said. "We spend 95 percent [of funds] on helping people with complications, instead of trying to prevent the complications from occurring."
The lecture focused on the CDC's response to one of today's most pressing health concerns-the avian influenza, which has been confirmed to exist in parts of Asia and Eastern Europe this year. Gerberding said the United States must approach the disease with special precaution.
"We believe an outbreak that appears anywhere could eventually reach the United States. We need to scale up our investment in vaccine production to deal with it," Gerberding said.
In 120 cases of the avian flu, the rate of fatality has been 50 percent, she added.
Gerberding said the SARS virus shows how a disease can spread quickly across the globe. SARS was first contracted in China in 2003 and soon spread to Ireland, Singapore, Germany and the United States.
She also said terrorist and bioterrorism attacks illustrate the importance of preparedness in addressing potential threats.
"We learned many lessons from the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11," Gerberding said. "We couldn't imagine a plane crashing into a building and destroying it, and because we couldn't imagine it, we couldn't prepare for it."
Gerberding also discussed the bioterrorism attacks in the months after Sept. 11, when anthrax-laced envelopes were sent out in New York and Washington D.C.
"It is hard to believe that a few letters could create such a massive threat to our postal system," she said. Gerberding played a major role in leading CDC's response to the 2001 anthrax attacks. Because of her leadership during that threat, Gerberding was selected to lead the CDC in 2002-making her the first woman to become director.
At the end of the lecture, one audience member asked Gerberding what incentive a company would have to produce vaccinations for the flu, citing legal problems and uncertain profit margins as deterrents.
Gerberding said the shortage of vaccines made by pharmaceutical companies is a concern for the CDC.
"We've got to do more to encourage investment in the production of vaccines," she said. "We are hoping Congress will pass a bill that helps that, but they won't do that right now."
Gerberding also discussed the expansion of disease control centers and the creation of a global health network to combat diseases efficiently around the world.
"We cannot afford to be proud for very long, because complacency is our biggest enemy," she said in reference to the constant need for the CDC and government organizations to be prepared.
"Having such a senior government official come to Duke is a huge honor," said Dr. Kevin Schulman, the director of Fuqua's Health Sector Management program.
A number of audience members said they felt Gerberding did a good job of outlining the relationship between political concerns and current health issues.
"She did a great job tying together policy and science," said Collin Davidson, a research associate at the School of Medicine. "It was a great lecture."
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