The more we look at drug resistance, the more concerned we are. It basically shows us that the end of the road isn’t very far away for antibiotics. – Tom Frieden
Vaccines and antibiotics have made many infectious diseases a thing of the past; we’ve come to expect that public health and modern science can conquer all microbes. But nature is a formidable adversary. – Tom Frieden
New, unfamiliar, and mysterious threats to our health are scary. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – where we identify, on average, one new health threat each year – we work around the clock with an approach that prioritizes finding out what we need to know as fast as we can to protect Americans. – Tom Frieden
Our progress against malaria is impressive. But vigilance remains a critical ingredient to protect the health of all people. – Tom Frieden
More than 50 million people around the world died during the 1918-1919 flu pandemic. That’s why we have epidemiologists all over the world tracking whether new strains of flu emerge. – Tom Frieden
In addition to not stopping the spread of Ebola, isolating countries will make it harder to respond to Ebola, creating an even greater humanitarian and health care emergency. Importantly, isolating countries won’t keep Ebola contained and away from American shores. – Tom Frieden
Tobacco marketing often reaches children and youth and entices them to start using tobacco while they are still at an impressionable age. Nearly four out of five high school cigarette smokers will become adult smokers, even if they intend to quit in a few years. By the time they want to quit, they’re hooked. – Tom Frieden
We know how to stop Ebola: by isolating and treating patients, tracing and monitoring their contacts, and breaking the chains of transmission. – Tom Frieden
Using prescription drug monitoring programs is an important step in identifying patients who may be improperly using prescription painkillers. – Tom Frieden
To me, as a physician, when 1.78 million of our high school kids have tried an e-cigarette, and a lot of them are using them regularly … that’s like watching someone harm hundreds of thousands of children. – Tom Frieden
Ebola so scary and so unfamiliar, it’s really important to outline what the facts are and that we know how to control it. We control it by traditional public health measures. We do that, and Ebola goes away. – Tom Frieden
People traveling to malaria-prone areas can protect themselves by taking steps such as taking antimalarial drugs, using insect repellent, sleeping under insecticide-treated bed-nets, and wearing protective clothing. – Tom Frieden
Mosquito control in the United States is very much a local and state activity. Some states have excellent programs, other states not so much. It’s one of the reasons it’s so urgent to identify and spread best practices to try and track and reduce mosquito populations. – Tom Frieden
Physical activity – even if you don’t lose an ounce, you’ll live longer, feel healthier and be less likely to get cancer, heart disease, stroke and arthritis. It’s the closest thing we have to a wonder drug. – Tom Frieden
The importance in what we’re seeing in countries around the world is a poorly regulated and poorly functioning private sector using irrational and ineffective medications that result in the emergence of drug-resistance tuberculosis. What we’ve done is begun a program to rapidly improve infection control in places that are treating TB patients. – Tom Frieden
It’s understandable that when something new comes out that’s unfamiliar, scary, and has severe outcomes, it gets a lot of media attention. In fact, the Zika outbreak is unprecedented. We’ve never before identified a mosquito-borne infection that can cause fetal malformations. – Tom Frieden
In 2011, at least a third of middle school and high school students who smoked cigars used flavored little cigars. Six states – Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Wisconsin – already have youth cigar smoking rates that are the same or higher than youth cigarette smoking. – Tom Frieden
Health care providers can follow guidelines for responsible painkiller prescribing and talk with their patients about the risks and benefits of taking prescription painkillers. – Tom Frieden
The bottom line is, if you’re pregnant, don’t travel to an area where Zika is spreading. – Tom Frieden
The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States has caused some to call on the United States to ban travel for anyone from the countries in West Africa facing the worst of the Ebola epidemic. That response is understandable. It’s only human to want to protect ourselves and our families. – Tom Frieden
Congress did the right thing with Ebola. They funded us to protect Americans and keep us safer. – Tom Frieden
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. – Tom Frieden
We do prioritize addressing MDR-TB. We have done that for more than 20 years; that’s why we’ve been able to drastically reduce U.S. cases of MDR-TB. – Tom Frieden
Women should use pain medication only as directed and talk with their doctor about all drugs they’re taking, including over-the-counter medications. Store prescription drugs in a secure place and properly dispose of them as soon as treatment is over. And never share prescription drugs with anyone else. – Tom Frieden
I’ve treated so many adults who are desperate – desperate – to get off tobacco. They all started as kids. I see the industry getting another generation of our kids addicted. – Tom Frieden
I think we didn’t recognize how hard it would be to care for someone with Ebola who was desperately ill in the U.S., and how much hands-on nursing care there would be, and we didn’t expect two nurses to get infected. – Tom Frieden
What works most effectively for quelling disease outbreaks like Ebola is not quarantining huge populations. What works is focusing on and isolating the sick and those in direct contact with them as they are at highest risk of infection. This strategy worked with SARS, and it worked during the H1N1 flu pandemic. – Tom Frieden
We have to keep up our guard. We won’t get the risk of Ebola to zero in the U.S. until we stop it in West Africa. And Ebola is hard to fight. It requires intensity. It requires speed and flexibility. – Tom Frieden
