A Pandemic Is Inevitable

"The threat may be theoretical at present - but all of the infectious disease experts I have spoken to over recent years agree that it is not a matter of if but of when the next flu pandemic will occur.

H5N1 might not eventually be the virus responsible but the pandemic will almost certainly start in animals and then mutate into an infectious human disease. "

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Bird flu 'still a major threat'

By Fergus Walsh Medical correspondent, BBC News The trials will help doctors prepare for a pandemic The world is still at risk from a new pandemic strain of flu according to leading scientists. The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has been out of the headlines for some time but experts say it still poses a potential threat.