We often see on TV about bird flu lately. It is a little hard for us, general citizens, to understand the difference between the new influenza and the regular influenza.

However, this is not such a problem that we can ignore just because it’s complicated. It has a possibility of a terrific scenario that once it triggers a worldwide pandemic, every Japanese catches it and many of them die from it.

Some people may think I am exaggerating and stirring up people’s fearfulness, but as the proverb goes, “prevention is better than cure.” There is no doubt there will be a big difference when something nobody has experienced before happens between those who have prepared for it and those who have not. At least, the former can have preparation not to panic. What I’m talking about here is not preparation by the government, but preparation by us, common people, preparation to protect our family and our selves.

The news overseas is reporting infectious diseases in much larger quantity and better quality than the news in Japan. Japanese TV stations are giving us too little information about this upcoming critical situation. In order to understand the complicated scientific information correctly, we need the specialist’s plain explanation.

In this series about infectious diseases, I am going to introduce the interview of Dr. Harue Okada (doctor of medicine), an author of the book, “Infectious Disease Moves World History” published by Chikuma Sinsho, with Dr. Akiko Sugahara (doctor of health), the director of Sugahara Institute.