This year, aid workers have fought outbreaks in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and southern Sudan.
The numbers of ducks and people, and the extent of rice cultivation emerged as the most significant factors, even though the two countries had fought outbreaks in two different ways.
What is really needed, the specialists say, is the type of concerted, emergency action that public health officials have used to fight outbreaks of infectious diseases.
From the turn of the century, the College was a national leader in research to fight outbreaks of hog cholera, swine plague, anthrax, brucellosis, foot-and-mouth disease, tuberculosis, mastitis, and other infectious diseases.
It gives advice on policies, evaluates treatments — especially for poor countries — maintains a network of laboratories and sends teams to fight outbreaks of diseases, like avian flu or Ebola.
While not commenting directly on Dr. Keeling's work, Dr. Kenneth L. Gage, plague section chief of the Division of Vector-Borne Infortheus Diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the agency recommends flea control, using insecticide, to fight outbreaks.
Dr. Thiermann reiterated his organization's longstanding support for poultry culling as a way to fight outbreaks of disease while preserving the ability to test surviving poultry reliably for disease.
Some feel the entire model the world uses to fight outbreaks needs to be rethought, so that an agency like the W.H.O. has the structure and mandate to take command.
The BBC's John Parajuli in Kathmandu says that while most communities across Nepal have designated teams of firefighters, many lack proper equipment to fight outbreaks that are sometimes huge.
GHSA also calls for and has helped countries establish Emergency Operations Centers to detect and fight outbreaks, improving collaboration among responders, and providing the public with accurate and timely information.
