Outbreak Control Quotes

When there is an influenza threat, drop everything and focus on risks from influenza pandemics. When SARS spreads, focus on unknown respiratory diseases. This approach helps to quell public concern, but it's a hugely inefficient way to deal with future risks.

This outbreak is moving ahead of efforts to control it.

We saw in 2003 the beginnings of an outbreak of an illness called SARS. SARS ended up killing 800 people which is a significant number of deaths, but nowhere near as high as it could have been.

Since the first large Zika outbreak ever recognized, in 2007, the CDC has had boots on the ground responding. Our laboratories have developed a test that can confirm Zika in the first week of illness or in a sample from an affected child.

If we vaccinate well, if we increase those vaccination rates, we can stop measles just as we stopped it before.

Health system development is a key to effective detection, response, and control of any outbreak.

You don't have to vaccinate every man, woman and child in the country if you have a couple of cases of smallpox cropping up.

We will talk about cooperation to destroy the disease as soon as we can.

Without strong health systems in place, the higher the population density, the more difficult it becomes to prevent and control outbreaks, and not just because of the increased risk of contagion.

With epidemics, people have been standing on the shore, waiting for the gusher to hit the ocean. But to prevent epidemics, you have to look at the various little sources that feed into the river.