Say What? The Institute of Medicine released a report this week on the dangers of emerging infections. While they make valid points about microbial resistance and the need for better vaccines against some diseases, this statement is puzzling:

A pandemic of influenza could kill hundreds of thousands of people and devastate economies, but there is no good system in place for even tracking such an outbreak, let alone controlling it, the panel said.

If anything, the recent outbreak of "mystery pneumonia" and its rapid containment has proven how effective the World Health Organization can be in curtailing emerging infectious diseases. What could have quickly become a global epidemic has so far been confined to Southeast Asia thanks to the WHO's global public health network.