Seven reasons we're at more risk than ever of a global pandemic

The risk at hand: an infectious outbreak.Public health experts believe we are at greater risk than ever of experiencing large-scale outbreaks and global pandemics like those we've seen before: SARS, swine flu, Ebola and Zika.Experts are unanimous in the belief that the next outbreak contender will most likely be a surprise -- and we need to be ready."We're only as secure in the world as the weakest country," said Jimmy Whitworth, professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. With so many health systems and economies in a fragile state, this means we are far from secure."Infectious diseases respect no boundaries," he said. The World Health Organization is alerted to hundreds of small outbreaks every month, he noted, which it investigates and uses to predict the chances of a bigger problem."There are little clusters of outbreaks occurring all the time, all over the place," Whitworth said. But with infections disregarding borders and their battle lines against humans drawn, he believes the way we live today is what opens us up to risk.