I largely ignored avian flu the first time it came through the news cycle. At the time it seemed like Bird Flu was just another everybody-panic-now kind of news story designed to scare suburban soccer moms away from poultry. As I read about it over the last year I realized more and more that this is actually a pretty big deal and the rate at which it is spreading over the globe is, well, alarming. In fact, a good illustration of that is this interactive map from the BBC. Pay particular attention to the jump in cases between January and June of 2006.
Not only is bird flu a big potential problem from a public health point of view, but economically, outbreaks of the virus can spell financial ruin as it has recently for these Suffolk turkey farmers. As with other potentially explosive viral problems in the past (mad cow, Ebola, SARS) let”s hope that the world health community can keep a handle on this issue before, well, we all die. PANIC.