Another specifique on H5N1
Recent article
" An easily transmitted strain of the virus could conceivably trigger a pandemic lasting two years and killing between 2 and 250 million people worldwide, according to estimates from the California Health Service.
http://www.thehour.com/288427783681224.bsp
Thursday morning. "Many of us are going to see a satellite broadcast about that this afternoon." That broadcast from the California Health Service explained the history of avian flu and the dangers it poses to people across the world. Avian flu, first identified in the early 20th century, now exists worldwide, primarily infecting birds. While human cases have occurred, almost all have been the result of contact between people and birds. Thus far, the human mortality rate for avian flu is approximately 50 percent, said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While there is a significant risk, the virus has yet to emerge in a form that could affect a global pandemic, Skinner explained. "What needs to happen for a pandemic of influenza to occur is you have to have a new or novel form of influenza occur," Skinner said. "We're seeing that with H5N1." But the virus must also become easily transmitted from person to person, which it has not, said Skinner. Viruses often mutate, however, and jump from one species to another. One way this could happen is through an intermediate species, Skinner said. "Pigs serve as a really good reservoir for both bird viruses and human
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