The explosive spread of bird flu during the first quarter of 2006 has many officials very worried. It took 9 years to spread to the first 15 countries. And only 3 months to spread to another 30.
It is felt that, by the end of the year, it may well be endemic worldwide.
For now, this is a pandemic in birds. Not people. That could change at any time. So far, bird or avian flu, has been very difficult for people to contract.
But Human to Human transmission is occuring, according the WHO and the CDC. Just inefficiently. Small, localized clusters.
With each new infected host, the odds go up that a pandemic form will mutate out of the old virus. As the virus spreads, so does our peril.
We can still hope that there is some barrier in the genetics of this virus that will prevent that from happening. For the sake of the world, there had better be.
But if there isn't, it is just a matter of time.
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