Well it’s more than that, we know. It’s a three-letter (not a four-letter) word these days. From Reuters:
One of two boys who tested positive for bird flu in Turkey has now begun showing symptoms, Turkish officials said on Thursday as experts cautioned the threat of a pandemic is steadily growing.
The board of the World Bank endorsed $500 million in aid to help countries deal with H5N1 avian influenza, while U.S. health officials dispersed $100 million for state and local preparedness.
The virus, while it is spreading and changing, still poses no immediate threat of a pandemic, but experts stress it could do so at any time. They say it is vital to prepare emergency response teams, stockpile what drugs there are and build up surveillance networks to detect new outbreaks.
More from the blogosphere here.
Roger, I don’t know if you also meant for us to look at the Michael Fumento and John Allen Paulos articles that were referenced in the post below the Bad Bird News post. I have been making this point for a while now that the 50% lethality rate was totally bogus. If you only look at people who are sick enough to go into a hospital you will of course get a much higher death rate. It is totally irresponsible for the media to publish these erroneous numbers without an explanation so that the public is led to believe that it truly represent the Bird Flu death rate.