America, for example, has asked that only drugs for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious epidemics be included.

ECONOMIST: Patently troublesome

The perplexing thing about diarrheal disease is that unlike many other global health epidemics, cheap diarrhea treatments exist.

FORBES: How private distribution companies can help reduce diarrheal disease

Research institutions can spot storm systems, epidemics and other critical patterns in their formative stages.

FORBES: Big Data: Big Costs, Big Risks And Big Opportunity

Fortunately, such a doomsday scenario is unlikely: none of the other recent outbreaks of avian flu resulted in human epidemics.

ECONOMIST: Averting a global plague | The