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05/25/2005:

"Flu pandemic 'could hit 20% of world's population'"

A global taskforce should be urgently formed to tackle a potential influenza pandemic that could affect 20% of the world's population, trigger economic disaster and kill millions, experts warned today.

A report in scientific journal Nature gives a fearful assessment of the huge impact a pandemic could have on the world, with an estimate that more than seven million people could die in the first few months.

A pandemic would change the world "overnight" and could be worse than previous outbreaks because of the greater interlinked nature of modern life, experts told Nature.

Fears of a pandemic have increased because of the outbreak of the current H5N1 bird flu strain in south-east Asia, which has caused 51 confirmed human deaths.

At present, there is no evidence that the H5N1 strain can be transmitted from one person to another, but it may only be a matter of time before the virus mutates into a form that can easily pass between people. If that were to happen it would spread rapidly around the world with devastating consequences. The fatality rate of humans infected by the virus is as high as 60%.
Full: guardian.co.uk

Nobel scientist warns on bird flu
Avian flu - caught directly from birds, and which kills in seven cases out of 10 - could suddenly sweep through the human population, killing 70 million people according to World Health Organisation estimates, a Nobel laureate warned yesterday.

Peter Doherty, of the University of Melbourne, who shared the 1996 Nobel prize for medicine, was speaking at an assembly of laureates in Lyon, France, 50 years to the day after the first announcement of an effective vaccine against the crippling disease poliomyelitis. World health teams hope to eliminate polio altogether by the end of 2005. But, Prof Doherty warned the Biovision conference, there were more immediate hazards.
Full: guardian.co.uk