While outbreaks of new, exotic infectious diseases --as well as the resurgence of old killers have surfaced all over the globe in the past decade, no continent has been harder hit than Africa. But with international travelers flying viruses across time zones in a matter of hours, experts have no doubt that the emergence of menacing microbes in one locale could bring about a worldwide pandemic. Are infectious diseases the new Armageddon? Africa's tropical climate makes it a hot zone in the most literal sense.
The continent is, to put it simply, a breeding ground for emerging pathogens. Add to that environmental changes - such as global warming and destruction of the rain forests - rapid population growth and haphazard development, and the scene is set for microbes to thrive, international experts have warned. Since the mid-1970s, the world has seen the emergence of 30 new infectious…
