Time running out to stop bird flu -experts

Science News Article | Reuters.com:

Global health officials fear it could mutate into a lethal strain that could rival the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed between 20 and 40 million people.

'Time is running out to prepare for the next pandemic,' said Michael Osterholm, of the University of Minnesota, Wednesday in a special section of the journal Nature devoted to avian flu.

'There is a critical need for comprehensive medical and non-medical pandemic planning at the ground level that goes beyond what has been considered so far,' he added.

Scientists believe the next pandemic, which many believe is overdue, will probably originate in poultry in Asia. To become a pandemic strain, H5N1 will have to adapt sufficiently on its own, or mix its genetic material with a human virus to become highly infectious in humans, who have no protection against it.