There was an interesting guest on Coast to Coast last night (hey, when they're not doing crop circles and chupacabra stuff I tune in), Dr. Mark Siegel who has written a book
False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear. As he said, sure there will eventually be a pandemic of some kind, but it's hard to know when. Those who have caught this bird virus were in direct contact with birds every day. The common flu kills 36,000 people in the US every year, although it's actually secondary infections such as pneumonia that kills them. He said most elderly would be better off getting a pneumonia vaccination that lasts five years than the annual flu shot, as the flu strain that is likely to spread is only a best guess. (I know I haven't had a flu shot in 4 years nown and I haven't had the flu). He said there were 20-something stages of mutation necessary for this virus to be transmittable between humans.
Anyway, to my recollection this is at least the third year in a row we've had pandemic panic with SARS, West Nile and now this bird flu. Most of this is probably wolf-crying by the mass mediots to sell stories and very irresponsible.