Need for integrative thinking to fight against emerging infectious diseases. Proceedings of the 5th seminar on emerging infectious diseases, March 22, 2016 - current trends and proposals.

We present here the proceedings of the 5th seminar on emerging infectious diseases, held in Paris on March 22nd, 2016, with seven priority proposals that can be outlined as follows: encourage research on the prediction, screening and early detection of new risks of infection; develop research and surveillance concerning transmission of pathogens between animals and humans, with their reinforcement in particular in intertropical areas ("hot-spots") via public support; pursue aid development and support in these areas of prevention and training for local health personnel, and foster risk awareness in the population; ensure adapted patient care in order to promote adherence to treatment and to epidemic propagation reduction measures; develop greater awareness and better education among politicians and healthcare providers, in order to ensure more adapted response to new types of crises; modify the logic of governance, drawing from all available modes of communication and incorporating new information-sharing tools; develop economic research on the fight against emerging infectious diseases, taking into account specific driving factors in order to create a balance between preventive and curative approaches.

[Education or constraint: measles vaccination in France during the belle époque]. / Education ou contrainte: la vaccination antivariolique en France à la Belle Epoque.

The dreadful nature of the epidemic of 1870 explains why smallpox, not cholera, played a central role in the French public health regulations. And yet, France went it alone on the matter. The rules required isolation for the contagious sick and mandatory notification of the disease almost everywhere, nevertheless France relied only on persuasion. True, the public health law of 1902 provided the State with new weapons. But would such a mandatory decree be sufficient to awake popular opinion? There was no resistance to the law, like in England or Germany. However, the new regulations took several decades to be enforced, if only because of the poor state of the sanitary administration. Smallpox vaccination was eventually implemented when the authorities discovered that proximity and easier accessibility to services and facilities are of primary importance for patients.