The Washington Monthly

February 1, 2005

AVIAN FLU PANDEMIC?....A number of experts are beginning to think that a mutated form of the avian flu virus may be setting us up for a worldwide pandemic:

"The situation in Southeast Asia right now is the most significant setup for a very serious public health crisis that I've seen in my 30 years in this business," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "We're sitting on a time bomb."

Apparently there's evidence that the virus has already mutated enough to allow transmission between humans with sustained contact. The fear is that it could mutate again to allow transmission with only casual contact.

—Kevin Drum 11:34 AM Permalink | Trackbacks

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