Posted on 10/19/2009 12:29:13 PM PDT by mdittmar
World health experts have tossed out death estimates from a potential bird flu pandemic ranging from 2 million and 150 million. While the estimates vary wildly, observers say the wide range may not be entirely surprising.
After all,there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the bird flu, including what the virus even will look like if and when it becomes capable of spreading directly between humans.
"We can't predict what a virus we've never seen will do," Marc Lipsitch, epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, told the ABC News Internet streaming channel ABC News Now.
Current human cases of bird flu, which has killed dozens of people in Asia,appear to have spread solely from birds to humans.
"In order to become a pandemic, it will have to change" to a human-to-human strain, Lipsitch said. "And we don't know what that changed strain will do."
Just as varied, apparently, are the predictions on deaths.
Today, the United Nations' World Health Organization suggested between 2 million and 7.4 million people could die from a global influenza pandemic.
On the other hand, David Nabarro, the recently-appointed senior United Nations system coordinator for avian and human influenza, told the media Thursday that deaths from bird flu could reach into the hundreds of millions.
"I'm not, at the moment, at liberty to give you a prediction on numbers," Nabarro said, "but I just want to stress, that, let's say, the range of deaths could be anything from 5 to 150 million."
A draft report of the federal government's emergency plan predicts that as many as 200 million Americans could be infected and 200,000 could die within a few months if the bird flu came to the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
pigmandogbird flu
Never waste a crisis.....
I’m still worried about SARS killing everyone. (/sarc)
West nile virus killed me.
OK
manbearpig flu with wings
I think thats what I was trying for...
As long as the One is president, the media will not be obsessing about all the deaths.
peanuts, tomatoes, bird flu, swine flu, SARS, oh the humanity...
Hong Kong flu, mosquitoes, damn, its amazing anyone is left here on good ol plantet earth
any guess what will be the next emergency?
The Hoax administation.
I think you got the hips right.
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