An outbreak of bird flu among migratory waterfowl in China suggests the disease -- which could trigger a dangerous flu among people -- may be poised to spread to India, Australia, New Zealand and eventually Europe, scientists warn.
If the migrating birds carry the H5N1 flu virus beyond its current stronghold in southeast Asia, it could devastate poultry farms and raise the risk of a deadly flu pandemic in people, experts said....
...If a bird flu virus infects a person who also carries a human flu virus, the result could be a hybrid bug that passes easily from person to person. ''That's the spark that sets off the forest fire of a global pandemic, and that's what everyone is worried about,'' said flu expert Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University....
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Leaving the coop
From the NYT
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