-Caveat Lector- WHO Reports on Infectious Diseases By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some 1,500 people, mostly children and working-age adults, will die in the next hour from infectious diseases, many that could be prevented for less than the cost of a few bottles of aspirin, the World Health Organization said Thursday. In a new assessment of infections' global toll, the WHO found just six illnesses are by far the main killers: Tuberculosis, malaria, measles, diarrhea, AIDS and acute respiratory diseases like pneumonia and flu. Although developing countries are the most ravaged, everyone is threatened, the report said: Not only can killer infections spread globally with a simple airplane ride, but developing countries won't grow economically unless their citizens are healthy. Doctors already have low-cost methods of preventing many of these illnesses, and good treatments for some. But the bacteria and viruses are evolving to resist therapy, so now is "a window of opportunity" that, if missed, could mean catastrophe for the next century, said WHO infection chief Dr. David Heymann. "We have the tools, but they are becoming ineffective so we have to use them now," Heymann said in an interview. "This is a wakeup call." His example of why timing is vital: Smallpox was declared eradicated just as AIDS started to appear. HIV-infected people cannot be vaccinated against smallpox because the vaccine overwhelms their weakened immune systems -- so if smallpox hadn't been wiped out in time, the AIDS era would have ensured it never was. The WHO listed cost-effective priorities for developing countries: --Drugs that treat AIDS may be too expensive for many developing countries, but just $14 for a year's supply of condoms could prevent infection in the first place. --An insecticide-soaked bednet to protect people from malaria-bearing mosquitos costs $10. --Twenty-six cents buys a dose of measles vaccine. --Thirty-three cents buys oral rehydration salts that can save a child dying from severe diarrhea. --Twenty-seven cents buys five days of antibiotics for pneumonia. One problem is raising the money. The WHO's $208 million budget for infectious diseases is still $50 million short. Malaria, TB and AIDS together have killed 150 million people since 1945 -- six times the number of soldiers and civilians killed in wars since 1945, the WHO said. Yet global military spending was almost 60 times higher in 1995 alone than spending on treatment and prevention of those three deadly diseases, the report said. The WHO "for the first time lays out a worldwide battle plan," said the Dr. Nils Daulaire of the Global Health Council. His organization says Americans overwhelmingly support helping developing countries fight that battle: Eighty-five percent of 1,200 Americans the council surveyed fear global spread of infections, and 90 percent said fighting the diseases at their source is crucial. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. The report also aims to convince governments that illness causes poverty just as much as poverty causes illness, so that national policies reflect sound health programs. Indeed, half of all infectious disease deaths are among people under 44, and many more of a country's prime workers and farmers are sickened. Rice production in Asia is slowed each year as 30,000 workers in rice paddies catch Japanese encephalitis, the WHO noted. Sri Lanka's decade-long battle to reduce malaria, in contrast, boosted national income 13 percent, the report said. Yet many countries have not adopted WHO-recommended disease prevention programs. Only 41 countries provide AIDS education in schools, and only half have instituted the "directly observed therapy" proven to stop spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis. AP-NY-06-17-99 1618EDT< Copyright � Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Home | Top of Page 06/17 DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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