Let’s have a bird flu plan - not a panic response

THROUGHOUT history, zoonoses (animal to human infection) have posed the greatest threat to human life. The bubonic plague, Spanish flu of 1918, and even the HIV virus, have all had precursor stages or forms in animals, mammals or birds.

Clearly the H5N1 avian virus (bird flu) has similar potential for a pandemic and most authorities now agree it’s a case of when, not if.

Events in Turkey in recent days not only represent a shift westward in the disease pattern but, more than likely, signify an important development in the virus’s capabilities to infect humans and possibly transmit between humans.