WHO: Pandemic H5N1 Could Have High Death Count

If you think its crazy to be concerned about the Bird Flu, think again. I promise you its the number one issue on the table of every major public health organization. CBC supplies the juicy details:

"(CP) - There's no guarantee the H5N1 avian flu virus would become less deadly to people if it triggers a pandemic, a new report from the World Health Organization warns.

A group of eminent influenza scientists gathered by the WHO last month concluded there is no reason to believe that the virus, which kills roughly 60 per cent of people who become infected, would become any milder if it evolves to become a pandemic strain.

The report, based on that meeting, cautions governments against spending a lot of money to stockpile existing H5N1 vaccines. It also reveals that a low level of H5N1 viruses found in wild and domestic birds appear to be naturally resistant to oseltamivir, the main flu drug being stockpiled against a future pandemic.

The WHO scientist who convened the meeting cautioned, however, that the question of how lethal an H5N1 pandemic might be is the scientific equivalent of a black hole.

Modern science has never seen a flu virus as nasty as H5N1, and there is no way of knowing if the virus can become easily transmissible among people or what an H5N1 pandemic would look like.

"It's one of those things that you hate to conjecture," said Michael Perdue, an avian influenza expert and scientist with the WHO's global influenza program.

"We just don't know enough about this virus, a whole new subtype for humans. . . . If a new H5 enters, it could be more lethal than anything we've ever seen in history. But who knows?"

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Apparently the top experts themselves have nothing but speculation on this virus. Low-path H5N1, which is currently all over the US is now tamiflu-resistant. That doesn't bode well, I have a feeling this thing is already totally out of control.