The first is that the fund, desperate to stop the economic contagion, could end up supporting a country that fails to carry through on its promised changes.

The Clinton administration, fearing "economic contagion," was willing to back loans to teetering governments in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Russia.

Fear of new forms of "economic contagion" has been replaced with far older fears of military contagion.

The surprise devaluation of the peso triggered sell-offs in other emerging markets, giving rise to the phrase "economic contagion," but after three or four months, markets settled down.

The economic contagion has yet to stop.

In the last year, Russia has suffered a series of blows, namely a collapse of oil and commodity prices as well as the economic contagion from Asia.

The collapse of the Thai currency crippled investor confidence, which quickly caused an economic contagion throughout Southeast Asia and South Korea.

Still, the central conundrum in calling for concerted action against the economic contagion is that no country sees the problem - or the solution - through the same prism.

The so-called Asian economic contagion had begun to infect South America.

Another example of global economic contagion?