The world is smaller and people are more mobile than at any time in history . This makes it easier than ever for what 's happening anywhere on the globe to harm Americans ' health . Here are five ways diseases in other countries pose a threat : . The flu could threaten millions . Even in a mild year for flu , in the United States alone , there are thousands of deaths , hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations , and billions of dollars in productivity losses . In a pandemic , millions of people worldwide could be killed . H7N9 influenza , also known as bird flu , is spreading in China , though fortunately it has not mutated to become an infectious disease outbreak that could threaten the health of people around the world . Antibiotic resistance is on the rise . Antibiotic resistance just might be the most urgent health threat facing us now . The nightmare strain of bacteria known as CRE , carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae , arose abroad and was introduced to one state in the United States . Now it 's in at least 44 states . It can resist all or almost all antibiotics , kills many of the people who get it in their blood , and spreads its resistance capabilities to other bacteria . The World Health Organization estimates multidrug-resistant tuberculosis already has infected a half a. million people across the globe . A nightmare health scenario we can stop . Diseases do n't respect borders . Going abroad can expose travelers to more than new cultures and once-in-a-lifetime experiences . More than 1,500 U.S. travelers get malaria every year , and the numbers are increasing . Yellow fever is spread by mosquitoes and causes more than 30,000 deaths worldwide each year , primarily in tropical areas of Africa and Latin America . People coming back from safari might bring back more than just pictures ; they could find themselves facing African trypanosomiasis , better known as sleeping sickness , transmitted by the tsetse fly found only in rural Africa . `` Foreign '' diseases are now domestic threats . We think of parasitic diseases as risks to travelers , but they harm people here at home as well . For example , Chagas disease is a chronic infection generally acquired by people in rural areas of Latin America , but about 300,000 people now living in the United States have this disease . Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease common in the tropics that infects more than 60 million people in the United States . While the immune system usually keeps the parasite from making people sick , it can cause death attributed to foodborne illness . Emerging infections : What 's the next HIV ? Mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus , dengue , and chikungunya infect hundreds of thousands of people each year and are spreading globally . In the past few years , we 've seen global outbreaks of Ebola and other deadly viral hemorrhagic fevers . 5 health challenges for 2014 . There are many diseases out there that we do n't even know about . Our new effort can prevent them from becoming epidemics . That 's why CDC partners with nations all over the world to detect and respond to disease outbreaks . Together we responded to more than 250 outbreaks in 2013 . No single country can deal with these health threats alone . Cooperation between countries has tremendous impact in early detection . Early detection of a single case of Ebola virus in 2011 led to an immediate response and the disease was stopped in its tracks . Previous similar outbreaks were large and spread rapidly through communities there . CDC is helping countries around the world strengthen their ability to prevent avoidable catastrophes and epidemics , detect threats early , and respond rapidly and effectively . Stopping outbreaks where they occur is the most effective and least expensive way to save lives at home as well as abroad . And it 's the right thing to do . That 's why we announced Thursday that the United States , through the work of the CDC and the departments of Agriculture , State , and Defense , has committed to cooperate with at least 30 partner countries to better prevent , detect , and effectively respond to infectious disease threats , better protecting at least 4 billion people around the world -- including the United States -- from threats . How to prevent the next pandemic . And we have called on partner countries to work together so that effective prevention , detection , and response are present in every country around the world . This year CDC and the Department of Defense have pledged $ 40 million to expand to 10 additional countries in addition to the pilot projects in Uganda and Vietnam . President Obama will request an additional $ 45 million in 2015 to accelerate progress around the world . It 's an essential step in strengthening global health security that will protect Americans , strengthen our nation 's global partnerships , and increase health security capacity around the world . Helping other countries makes those countries , and the United States , safer . The most infectious of all infectious diseases .
Millions could die in a worldwide influenza pandemic . Antibiotic resistance is growing globally and in the United States . Travelers may bring back more than souvenirs from abroad . Comment: