62 Quotes by Dick Thompson

We're not going to know how lethal the next pandemic is going to be until the pandemic begins. You could pick almost any number.

We believe and are very concerned that this virus -- which is now widely circulating in the environment and moving west -- has the potential to ignite a pandemic.

The crisis ... may seem more intense now because birds in Europe have become infected.

There have been something like 180 million birds that have died either directly from the disease or been culled because they were exposed to it. Yet it's taken us all this time -- more than two years, almost three years now -- to cross this barrier.

We keep encouraging countries to develop a plan because a pandemic is inevitable.

There is really no time frame. As long as the virus is circulating it could jump into humans.

There is definitely concern about Egypt. In a relatively short period of time we have what is really a large number of cases.

Those viruses are in a WHO reference laboratory and are being studied.

We cannot let our guard down until this disease is put back in a box.