[media-credit name=’BEN SMIDT/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]One month after the tsunami that hit shores of countries bordering the Indian Ocean, fear of a potential infectious-diseases outbreak arose. In a presentation at the Overture Center Tuesday evening, University of Wisconsin Medical School professor Dennis Maki said the potential plagues in the region are also a concern for tsunami victims.

In the approximately two-hour lecture, Maki discussed some major infectious diseases that have affected the world, as well as advances in managing the effects of the diseases.

Maki said infectious diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), lethal bird flu and mad-cow disease spread quickly to other countries, so it is important to keep diseases controlled.

The SARS outbreak in early 2003 led to the first death from the disease and, according to Maki, could have created a global epidemic because of the high volume of international travel.

“We live together in this world and we help each other,” Maki said. “Industrial countries [should] help developing countries with limited public-health service.”

According to Maki, medical scientists can control diseases from spreading by having knowledge of the causes, the modes of spreading and the characteristics of the pathogenic agents.

“Understanding the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis [helps] reduce mortality,” Maki said. “The death rate of AIDS [patients] decreases remarkably after we know how the HIV virus works.”

According to Maki, the greatest medical advances came from evidence-based medicine.

Maki said tuberculosis, diphtheria and tetanus were deadly plagues for people before the invention of antibiotics and vaccines. The mortality rate has decreased significantly, and the diseases are rarely found in the United States.

As a result of the high potential for infectious-disease breakouts following the tsunamis, Maki said medical scientists should extend research on infectious diseases such as malaria and hepatitis.

“By understanding our own diseases, we can improve our health-care strategy,” Maki said.

Maki said willingness to participate in clinical research is an altruistic and noble thing for an ordinary person to do, adding when individuals participate in medical trials, “you are not being guinea pigs.”

“You [are contributing] to the growth of medical knowledge to benefit all humankind,” Maki said.

Associate Director of Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Joan Fischer said the topic of infectious diseases is important and relevant because of the recent tsunami tragedy.

“Our goal is to bring the public in touch with the experts,” Fischer said. “We want the public to be better acquainted with the issues of our state, as well as [their] solutions.”