The strain of bird flu which has caused scores of human deaths in South East Asia in recent years is a different strain to that responsible for the current outbreak of swine flu. The latest form of swine flu is a new type of the H1N1 strain, while bird, or avian flu, is H5N1. Experts fear H5N1 hold the potential to trigger a pandemic because of its ability to mutate rapidly. However, up until now it has remained very much a disease of birds. Those humans who have been infected have, without exception, worked closely with birds, and cases of human-to-human transmission are extremely rare - there is no suggestion that H5N1 has gained the ability to pass easily from person to person.
The latest form of swine flu is a new type of the H1N1 strain, while bird, or avian flu, is H5N1.
Experts fear H5N1 hold the potential to trigger a pandemic because of its ability to mutate rapidly.
However, up until now it has remained very much a disease of birds.
Those humans who have been infected have, without exception, worked closely with birds, and cases of human-to-human transmission are extremely rare - there is no suggestion that H5N1 has gained the ability to pass easily from person to person.
I'm not sure it's an apt comparison. "Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms." -Dostoevsky
What other kinds of flu are there? Bear flu? Platypus flu? Hippo flu? Capybara flu?
Bear flu?
By the way, is Bear Flu kosher? Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
I suppose it would be an apt irony if the US were laid low by its own pork.
The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
