Osterholm Quotes

"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.”

"We're now at the second level of concern. The third level could happen tomorrow.”

"H7N9 is blowing right by H5N1. I’m really worried about that."

"We're in a 'stay tuned' moment right now. If that happens [mutation for easy H7N9 human spread], then bets are off. It's potential pandemic time."

"We don't know yet if there's an infectious cloud that comes off the bird markets that can infect nearby humans."

"The psychology of influenza vaccination uptake is sometimes almost as complex as the disease itself."

"This doesn't fundamentally change the risk picture for H5N1 around the world."