Quartz: Health security is as important to America’s future as border security
Dan Stinchcomb, chief scientific officer at Infectious Disease Research Institutes

“…As the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress begin discussing their next fiscal year federal budget, they have an opportunity to either reduce or increase the risk of infectious diseases. We can’t eliminate all disease, but through a combination of preventive care and long-term preparedness, we could dramatically lower the cost in both money and lives. Here are five of the biggest current threats from infectious disease: 1. Zika … 2. Flu epidemic … 3. The unexpected epidemic … 4. Drug-resistant bacteria … 5. Under-vaccination … Protecting our borders is an important goal for our new government. But, even if the United States completely halted immigration, we’d still be at risk for epidemics and health crises … Just as we provide funding to secure our population from terrorism, we need to find ways to secure our health, through continued funding of research and public health programs, both here and abroad” (8/1).