id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-298696-rsifxvtj	Lim, Meng-Kin	Global response to pandemic flu: more research needed on a critical front	2006-10-13		.txt	text/plain	2257	100	50	Given that air transportation is the one feature that most differentiates present day transmission scenarios from those in 1918, our present inability to prevent spread of influenza by international air travel, as reckoned by the World Health Organization, constitutes a major weakness in the current global preparedness plan against pandemic flu. Alas, the 2005 WHO report Avian influenza: assessing the pandemic has dismally concluded that "If only a few countries are affected, travel-related measures, such as exit screening for persons departing from affected areas, might delay international spread somewhat, but cannot stop it. Against a conservatively estimated US$800 billion a year that a human pandemic of avian influenza could cost the global economy [24] , not to mention the incalculable cost in terms of human lives [25] , it seems incredible that the aviation lessons of SARS have not led to an acceleration of scientific research and health policy evaluation aimed at strengthening public health defenses on the air transportation front.	./cache/cord-298696-rsifxvtj.txt	./txt/cord-298696-rsifxvtj.txt