Bird flu - one step to a pandemic

The risks of mutating into a pandemic disease areRegistered migratory poultry deaths are also a
estimated to cause 7.5m deaths. Some specialistsconcern because specialists say that this could mean
believe that this is an optimistic opinion.another indication that the virus is mutating and it is
The real warning comes when we realize that therebecoming more virulent. The main problem in that
is no way to produce sufficient vaccines in case of aarea is the fact that countries like China or Vietnam
pandemic. Another major impact could be over globalare not providing enough data for animal and human
economy because the virus may lead to manyhealth officials, leaving the scientists uninformed.
deaths among birds and also among humans.As we wrote earlier the most optimistic predictions
There is a desperate need for research in order tosay that 7.5m deaths will be registered in the next
develop a proper and safe vaccine that can preventbird flu pandemic. Specialists agreed that it is only a
the infection. As we know, since the first case ofmater of time until a flu pandemic starts. It is
human bird flu was registered in 1997 at Hong Kong,estimated a number of 30 million hospitalized persons.
there have been more than 90 infections amongStatistics say that a pandemic occurs every 30 years
humans in south-east Asia. 54 of these persons haveor so. It is known that the most virulent was
died. After the administration of the vaccineregistered in 1918. This Spanish flu killed about 40
outbreaks seem to occur not as often as before inmillion persons all over the globe. Less virulent but
countries such as Thailand and in other south-eastwith a number of victims of about 1 million each were
Asian countries. While this phenomenon wasthe Asian flu pandemic in 1957 and the Hong Kong flu
registered, in Vietnam many human cases have beenin 1968.
developed. As specialists agreed such clustering couldEven if the risk of developing a new world pandemic
mean the virus is becoming more and more efficient.exist it is good to remember that no one can
This could mean a precondition for pandemic.produce the necessary quantity of vaccine.