Swine Flu news and updates thread

"The World Health Organisation has reported two new human cases of bird flu. One patient is recovering in Egypt, while another died in Vietnam – a reminder that the H5N1 virus is far from gone. “Do not drop the ball in monitoring H5N1,” WHO director-general Margaret Chan told a meeting of Asia’s top health officials in Bangkok . “We have no idea how H5N1 will behave under the pressure of a pandemic.”

Experts have long feared that bird flu could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people. The past three flu pandemics – the 1918 Spanish flu, the 1957-58 Asian flu and the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 – were all linked to birds, though some scientists believe pigs also played a role in 1918.

"Webster, who works at St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, said bird flu should be a worry now. Bird flu is endemic in parts of Asia and Africa, and cases of swine flu have already been confirmed in South Korea and Hong Kong. “My great worry is that when this H1N1 virus gets into the epicentres for H5N1 in Indonesia, Egypt and China, we may have real problems,” he said . "

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