TOO often the health news sounds like threat-of-the-week. We are told to worry about a host of things, from fatty food to autism to SARS. Most of these threats stay mercifully distant. But if there is one to watch carefully, it is flu. At a meeting in Shanghai this week, the World Health Organization warned that east Asia is on the brink of an outbreak of unprecedented proportions as it grapples with avian flu. Worse, the measures taken to eradicate the disease may increase the threat to humans.
The H5N1 flu virus ripped through east Asia’s booming poultry industry earlier…
