U.N. Warns of Bird Flu Resurgence
Despite being in decline since 2003, the United Nations has warned of a bird flu resurgence that could potentially reach pandemic levels. While there has been a large degree of speculation over the possibility of a global bird flu pandemic, wild bird migrations have brought it back to previously virus-free countries, and a mutant strain has already caused a number of deaths in Asia.
Asian nations also tend to be hit hardest by other strains of the flu due to improper waste management and other factors.
Robert Webster, an influenza expert, says:
“Health authorities worldwide need to remain watchful for possible influenza outbreaks, despite swine flu being much less deadly than people had originally feared. Webster, chairman of the virology and molecular biology department at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, says that bird flu remains a possible threat and could be the cause of the next global outbreak.”
Even the U.S. Air Force predicted a global avian flu crisis. On June 17, 1996, the U.S. Air Force released Air Force 2025, “a study designed to comply with a directive from the chief of staff of the Air Force to examine the concepts, capabilities, and technologies the United States will require to remain the dominant air and space force in the future.”
According to the United Nations, residents of of Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam will be “most likely” affected by the virus.
In addition, a new “vaccine-resistant” strain has been found in both China and Vietnam. Of course that might not matter very much, as a number of the 350 homeless test subjects for the bird flu vaccine ended up dying in Poland following the medical trials.
