Michael Osterholm Quotes (32 Quotes)

I think that this particular report really signifies the first time that anyone from within the financial world, when looking at this issue, kind of had one of those 'Oh my God' moments.

Ten years. I believe sometime in that period it will happen. But I couldn't tell you why.

All the other catastrophes we've had in the world in recent years at the very most put screen doors on our borders. This would seal shut a six-inch steel door.

How do you provide food, water ... basic security for the population

The good news is we can make a vaccine. The bad news, it's not going to prevent a pandemic in the next 12 to 18 months.

Most of the federal government right now is as ill-prepared as any part of society.

At this point, we're woefully short in vaccines and antibiotics. The U.S. public health infrastructure is but a shell of what it needs to be able to respond. And public health has continued to be overlooked in most of the kinds of funding that have occurred to date, in terms of trying to prepare us for terrorism.

The first thing we have to do is make sure we have good sanitation, which right now for many areas in the Gulf region we have none no running water, no sewers,

I am convinced with the advent of an early winter in the Northern Hemisphere in just six short months, we will see a resurgence of SARS that could far exceed our experience to date,

Ninety-five out of 100 will live. But with the nation in crisis, will we have food and water Are we going to have police and security Will people come to work at all

Pandemics of influenza are a lot like hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes, ... We've learned that the virus actually causes massive infection in humans...and turns on one's immune system in such a way that it alternately attacks the organs in the body.

In a pandemic, it's not clear what they would eat, or where they would eat. People may take in less calories, but they've still got to eat.

We can predict now 12 to 18 months of stress of watching loved ones die, of wondering if you are going to have food on the table the next day. Those are all things that are going to mean that we are going to have to plan -- unlike any other crisis that we have had in literally the last 80-some years in this country.

To be able to move smallpox simply means to have a device within a writing ink pen that could very easily pass any customs officer, could easily pass through a metal detector, and you could have enough smallpox in there to start the world's worst epidemic.

The resources required to prepare adequately will be extensive, ... But they must be considered in the light of the cost of failing to invest a global economy that remains in a shambles for several years.

There clearly have been ongoing changes in the virus itself, and what that means in terms of its adapting to different bird species or its ability to infect other bird species is unclear, but it may have played a role.

It doesn't matter if we have a vaccine now or not. We can't make it,

Plague actually is a commonly occurring disease in the southwestern United States, particularly in rodents, prairie dogs and so forth. Almost any researcher technically could go out and capture the same kind of bacteria by doing sampling in the environmen

What we need to do is help companies understand where their vulnerabilities are, what products are critical during a pandemic that we must have, such as medical supplies, and how are we going to respond to that

It's the perfect setup. Then you put air travel in and it could be around the world overnight.

Clearly this is the No. 1 public health issue on the radar screen.

Understand that a lot of the things we need to do to prepare are not related to magic bullets.

What happens in China is of real concern to us. Most of us have been quite surprised that there has not been some evidence of human disease in China and we always worry if that is a function of transparency or the cases just aren't there. We just don't know. And the doubts are troubling.

Farmers need to understand that their livelihood is at risk just because of what this would do to the world economy.

There have been tremendous improvements in the plan even over the last week to 10 days,

What we are really attempting to do here is make sure you have antibody defense after you stop the antibiotics, ... Should one of those dormant spores come around, we can then take care of it.

You have to take a look at the 1918 experience and realize if 50 to 100 million people died and those numbers come from a recent study from a group of historians that went country by country to determine that number, ... Today we that have three times the number in the world those numbers are roughly at 180 to 360 million could die. The bottom line is the way these people die. Our medical care delivery system in the modern world isn't any better prepared than in 1918.

If this projection is correct, we have every reason to believe that this disease may show up in multiple U.S. cities as we continue to travel around the world in unprecedented numbers and speed.

It may well be of great benefit to people who can get it while they're ill.

That is like trying to fill Lake Superior with a garden hose. That's just a start.

We must plan for a worst-case scenario.

We have people congregated in areas such as the Louisiana Superdome where agents of infectious disease are at a very high risk, so the potential for disease outbreaks is real.