Friday, September 28, 2018

Pandemic Flu

Vulnerability to Pandemic Flu Could Be Greater Today Than a Century Ago

JAMA. Published online September 28, 2018. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.12966
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.
Image description not available.
Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress
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.

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