WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING

This is a bomb that will impact the world.
-- Thommy Thompson, Former Secretary, US Health and Human
Services

[The H5N1 pandemic] is an absolute certainty. When it comes to a
pandemic we are overdue and we're under-prepared.
-- Mike Leavitt, Secretary, US Health and Human Services

Anything we say before a pandemic occurs feels like an exaggeration. But any level of preparation that is conducted after is inadequate. So one might ask, is this Y2K all over again? Is this just crying wolf? The reality is this will happen at some point in time.
-- Mike Leavitt, Secretary, US Health and Human Services

The number of people infected will go beyond billions because between 25 and 30% will fall ill.
-- Klaus Stohr, Director, WHO Global Influenza Center

This is a very ominous situation for the globe. It is the most important
threat we are facing right now.
-- Julie Gerberding, US Centers For Disease Control and Prevention

We don't know what the fatality will be but we can expect it to be very high. There will be enourmous economic dislocation. Stock markets will close, international travel and trade will be limited.
-- Peter Cordingley, WHO regional spokesman

The best we can do is try to survive it. We need a Manhattan Project
yesterday.
-- Paul Gully, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Canada

Short of thermonuclear war, I have a hard time imagining anything in my lifetime that would be as horrible.
-- Laurie Garrett, US Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow for Global Health

We're dealing here with world survival issues -- or the survival of the
world as we know it.
-- David Nabarro, United Nations Senior System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza

We can now, in principle, consider the bird population of Europe infected. I fear it might be endemic in Europe by now.
-- Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The
Netherlands February 15, 2006

There would be no mutual aid, we'd have to take care of this ourselves. -- Florida Governer Jeb Bush
February 15, 2006

If a pandemic hits it's going to be very, very serious for the whole world -- not only the deaths that will occur, but the world economy will tank. People will go and lock themselves in closets. They won't shop, they won't go to movies, they won't get on airplanes, they won't stay in hotels.
-- J.W. Marriott Jr, head of Marriott International Inc.
February 15, 2006

Only two mutations are needed for it to become easily transmissible
among humans. I wake up every morning thinking that today could be the day that I will see a report about a strange case of bird flu among
humans.
-- David Nabarro, United Nations Senior System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza

It is no matter if the flu pandemic will occur or not, it will occur. What we don't know yet is when.
-- Joxel Garci, deputy director, Pan American Health Organization

The arrival of a pandemic influenza would trigger a reaction that would change the world overnight. A vaccine would not be available for a number of months after the pandemic started, and there are very limited stockpiles of antiviral drugs. Foreign trade and travel would be reduced or even ended in an attempt to stop the virus from entering new countries. It is likely that transportation would also be significantly curtailed domestically, as smaller communities sought to keep the disease contained.
-- Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, Associate Director of the Department of Homeland Security's National Center for Food Protection and Defense, and Professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health

Right now there is not sufficient surveillance to detect all cases of avian influenza in humans or in animals.
-- Dr. Heymann Executive Director of Communicable Diseases, World Health Organization

I would not be surprised if in a period of several months to a year we
would see this even in the United States.
-- Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
February 17, 2006