AS BIRD FLU continues to rampage across south-east Asia, the question is whether this will be The Big One – the virus that mutates to rival the 1918 flu strain, which killed tens of millions of people. And the truth is, we have no idea. The existing H5 bird flu can infect and kill people, but not easily, and it cannot yet spread between people. It is possible that it will evolve into a human plague on its own, or hybridise with a human flu virus and become contagious that way. Or maybe H5 cannot do this. We just don’t know.…
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