Tweet
Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, didn?t mince words when he wrote a love letter to his children and grandchildren. His dispatch, a book entitled Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, was published last year as a guide for surviving emerging infectious disease threats. ?[F]ailure is not an option here,? said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Concern for his loved ones? future prompted Osterholm to write the cautionary tale, but his intended audience is global. As the world observes the centennial of 1918?s ruinous influenza pandemic, his message includes a societal call to arms for stepped-up flu vaccine research. ?[I]t?s not that we can?t do this?it?s will we do this?? he said.
A global immunization program using a universal flu vaccine that might be needed only once every 10 to 20 years ?could do more for the world?s public health than we even did with the eradication of smallpox, and it would surely have a major impact economically in terms of taking off the table future pandemics,? Osterholm said.
In a recent conversation with JAMA, Osterholm explained why the world is vulnerable to another 1918-like flu pandemic and what?s needed to dodge the infectious bullet. An edited version of that discussion follows.
full article
Concern for his loved ones? future prompted Osterholm to write the cautionary tale, but his intended audience is global. As the world observes the centennial of 1918?s ruinous influenza pandemic, his message includes a societal call to arms for stepped-up flu vaccine research. ?[I]t?s not that we can?t do this?it?s will we do this?? he said.
A global immunization program using a universal flu vaccine that might be needed only once every 10 to 20 years ?could do more for the world?s public health than we even did with the eradication of smallpox, and it would surely have a major impact economically in terms of taking off the table future pandemics,? Osterholm said.
In a recent conversation with JAMA, Osterholm explained why the world is vulnerable to another 1918-like flu pandemic and what?s needed to dodge the infectious bullet. An edited version of that discussion follows.
full article