As the flu season approaches, I feel I need to be proactive and discuss the Avian Influenza (Bird Flu).  H5N1 virus is an influenza virus that is found mainly in birds and appears to be contained in Asia.  I say appears to be contained in Asia because some cases have now been found in Turkey.  Turkey is actually part of two continents, Asia and Europe, its division being the Bosporus Strait.  This strain does not typically infect humans but there have been several cases where it has been spread from bird to human.  Not to worry …yet. 

There are no known cases of the H5N1 virus in the U.S. and the risk of there being an outbreak in the U.S. is low.  However …in the human cases since 1997 there has been a 50 percent death rate.  Most of these cases occurred from contact with infected poultry but there were a few cases that were spread human to human. 

So why all the fuss over a flu that does not infect humans?  Should we be concerned?  Could this be the pandemic that takes millions of lives?  I don’t know. 

Here is what I do know (or think).  The World Health Organization (WHO) came out strong on this one.  Reports of a pandemic, taking millions of lives, there’s no known vaccine.  All things to get people in a panic, after all there has been a shortage of flu vaccines for the past couple of years.  With the different strains changing each year it seems difficult to protect us against everything.  Since this is not a human virus there is little protection against it in the human population.  So the concern is this, the H5N1 virus could change enough to spread more easily from person to person. 

Lately, there hasn’t been as much attention surrounding the idea of a pandemic.  It’s almost as if it’s been swept under the rug.  One headline read “WHO: Human Risk from Bird Flu ‘Very Low’”.  Well that’s great, but why all the concern before?  I can’t help but wonder if  they’ve realized that it could happen.  Perhaps they’re trying to downplay what they’ve come to see as a reality.