Skeptics warn bird flu fears are overblown
Bird Flu Symptom info
April 20, 2006

Could the hysteria over bird flu sap money from worse health threats? This is the question asked by experts who caution against overreacting if the virus surfaces in North American birds as expected. It is understandable for people to be concerned. Last fall the chief avian flu coordinator for the United Nations said he was almost certain that a bird flu pandemic would happen soon. Mike Leavitt, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services advised Americans to stockpile non-perishable food, and other necessar items. Another expert said that we need to face the possibility that half the population could die in a pandemic. Others say that even if the bird flu virus, H5N1, does not mutate and cause a pandemic that the preparations we make now could be of benefit later. Others worry that while we are watching the bird flu progression we could be caught by some other disease. And they also point out that even if the H5N1 virus does mutate into a human pandemic it may be mild: the most recent flu pandemic occurred in 1968 and wasn't much worse thatn the normal flu season.