None.

These data indicated the importance of reporting data stratified by both sex and age since collapsing the data over all ages would have masked some of the male-female differences. To target preventive measures appropriately, assessment of gender by age is important for dengue because biological or gender-related factors can change over the human lifespan and gender-related factors may differ across countries.

Recently, reports of syphilis have increased rapidly in Japan, with most cases being men who have sex with women and young women who have sex with men.

No abstract

The International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 present a challenge and opportunity for global surveillance and control of infectious diseases. This article examines the opportunity for regional networks to address this challenge. Two regional infectious disease surveillance networks, established in the Mekong Basin and the Middle East, are presented as case studies. The public-private partnerships in the networks have led to an upgrade in infectious disease surveillance systems in capacity building, purchasing technology equipment, sharing of information, and development of preparedness plans in combating avian influenza. These regional networks have become an appropriate infrastructure for the implementation of the IHR 2005.