Despite rising hysteria, and overuse of the word ‘pandemic’, the bird flu threat is under control, says robert matthews
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Within hours of Turkey being confirmed as the latest nation to fall prey to bird flu, many in Britain began exhibiting the first symptom of an encroaching pandemic - a total loss of perspective.
Those who should be most worried by the arrival of the dreaded H5N1 virus in Europe are also least likely to know about it, as they are birds. Despite all the scary talk of a repeat of the Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed at least 20 million in 1918-19, the new virus has yet to make the critical jump to humans. Those that have died so far - barely 70 people worldwide - have all been in close contact with birds carrying the virus. As yet, not a single case of human-to-human transmission has occurred.
The doom-mongers may well be right in
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| Britain has begun exhibiting the first symptom of an encroaching pandemic - a total loss of perspective |
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saying it is only a matter of time. Yet the fact remains that, even at this very early stage, the world's health agencies are already on full alert. Compare that to SARS, the almost-forgotten deadly form of pneumonia that emerged in China in 2002. By the time Chinese officials admitted they had a problem, the SARS virus had made the jump into humans, spread across Asia and was killing 10 per cent of those it infected - a hit-rate even worse than the dreaded Spanish Flu.
Despite being on the brink of a pandemic, the world's health agencies snapped into action and stopped the virus in its tracks. And they did it not with fancy genetic medicine or mass vaccination, but by grabbing anyone who looked unwell and slinging them in isolation hospitals. In the end, the global toll was less than 800.
The SARS epidemic was a damned close-run thing. But the way it was beaten should soothe the nerves of anyone infected by the flap over bird flu. 
FIRST POSTED OCTOBER 14
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