Osterholm Quotes

"It really is a sign of the overall scientific investigation dysfunction that has occurred to date in Saudi Arabia."

"MERS is not a Kingdom of Saudi Arabia problem, and it's not a Middle East problem, it's an international problem—and it takes an international response to deal with it."

"I think whatever the explanation was for adding these new cases it is not good. It’s either a lack of a competent surveillance system or an intentional effort to report fewer cases.”

"We have no idea right now what makes a person more likely to transmit the virus."

“We in public health have to take a step back and not be so reassuring to the public that the chance of transmission is actually very small.”

"If they don't have animal contact, where do they pick it up? Potentially, asymptomatic cases."

"If one of those infected people gets on a plane and lands in London, Toronto, New York or Hong Kong and transmits [MERS] to another 30 people, everyone will have a different view."

"One of the problems we have with a MERS-like illness is that it also is very similar to a lot of early-onset illnesses from other respiratory pathogens. So you might very well think of it as influenza or some other respiratory pathogen."

"Each of these cases are kind of a throw at the genetic roulette table, and we can only hope that they don't result in extensive transmission."

"With a virus like this, you have to view this as a journey, not a yes or no event."

"Not using irradiation is the single greatest public health failure of the last part of the 20th century in America."

"This is really a pivotal moment in the evolution of MERS."

"We could be in the early days of another SARS-like event."

"We now have intentionally lowered the bar to the point . . . where we have made it possible for laboratories around the world to do this work."

“Protecting camels right now may be the single most important thing we can do to protect humans.”

“It's another reason why we need to accelerate efforts to come up with really game-changing flu vaccines.”

“While this phenomenon is not new, I think this is really the first time we’ve seen the direct relationship between sub-standard protection levels and the vaccine strain.”

“With triclosan, it’s clear that evidence of risk of its use to society is mounting.”

“For each link in the chain of transmission, you’re trying to break it, and ideally the best way to break it is to keep camels from getting infected.”

"If the risks are something to be measured, then in a risk-benefit analysis this chemical shouldn't and doesn't hold up.”