Bird Flu in Humans – Cause for Concern?
August 31st, 2006In 2005, the World Health Organization issued a statement that the world was in grave danger of a killer pandemic triggered by the bird flu virus. The previous year, when the virus was detected in pigs in Vietnam, there was a widespread fear of the emergence of mutant strains. To become a pandemic strain, the H5N1, or avian flu virus, would need to sufficiently adapt on its own or mix its genetic material with a human virus for it to become highly infectious to humans.