Bird Flu Virus May Infect One Third of World’s Population — Russian Expert

[Guest guest]

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/03/07/birdfluepidemy.shtml

 

 

 

Bird Flu Virus May Infect One Third of World's Population — Russian Expert

 

Created: 07.03.2006 15:18 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:44 MSK,

 

 

Moscow News

 

One-third of the world's population might become infected with bird

flu in a short period of time, Director of the Russian Academy of

Science's Virology Research Institute Dmitry Lvov said, according to

Interfax.

 

" Any pandemic (flu) virus appears as a result of crossing between a

human virus and a bird virus. A highly pathogenic monster emerges and

it can affect up to one-third of the world's population in a short

period of time, " he said.

 

The flu is a very serious infection, which has existed among birds for

millions of years, " he said. " In 1918, the Spanish influenza killed

about 50 million people all over the world. "

 

The history of fighting a pandemic shows that " quarantine measures are

unable to hold in check the circulation of the virus, " he said.

 

" Even a vaccine is a means of individual protection. A good vaccine

can save a person not from the disease itself but from death and

complications, " he said.

 

Experts all over the world fear that H5N1 virus, which has killed more

than 90 people since 2003, mostly in Asia, may mutate into a form that

can pass between humans, sparking a deadly epidemic. A four-year-old

boy who died in Indonesia last week, became the latest suspected bird

flu victim.