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Bird Flu

The H5N1 virus has been given a lot more attention than previous outbreaks of flu in birds. Scientists and science reporters are interested in it because, although other flu subtypes (H1, H7) have transmitted from birds to people, this is the first time that H5 has done so, and with a high mortality rate. In the future, H5N1 may or may not produce a strain that is transmissible between humans, but its study is likely to be significant in vaccine and virus research.

The discussion about H5N1 in the UK has also become part of wider concern about risk and disaster planning, and subject to an intense media scrutiny of the Government’s preparations for different kinds of emergencies. This has caused some confusion between the risks associated with bird flu and those of a possible future strain transmissible between people. It also seems to have created the misleading impression, reinforced by inaccurate circulars being sent out to staff by some employers, that there are preventative measures that the general public should be taking against a flu pandemic: this is not the case.

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    Last updated: June 09 2006

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