Deadly flu pandemic 'more likely than ever'

After almost a year of trying to bring Asia’s bird flu under control, World Health Organisation experts are now warning that the disease is the most likely candidate to cause the world’s next pandemic, with the possibility of as many as seven million deaths.

“I believe we are closer now to a pandemic than at any time in recent years,” Shigeru Omi, Western Pacific regional director of WHO, said yesterday at a regional meeting about the disease.