April 22, 2004

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  Bird flu's 'huge potential risk'

  
  

   

  
  

  By Alex Kirby
  BBC News Online environment correspondent

  
  

  Bird flu could develop into a threat big enough to overturn world order if it evolves to transfer directly from person to person, a UK scientist says.

  
  

   Dr John McCauley, of the Institute for Animal Health, said the virus could be 20 times worse than the 1918 pandemic. That is estimated to have killed 40 million people, with later influenza outbreaks also killing millions more.

  
  

  Dr McCauley said there was a realistic chance of the current avian flu virus evolving to threaten people directly. "If it does - if the virus becomes adapted to man and can transmit efficiently - there'll be no point in selling a vaccine. You might as well give it away at that stage, because money would be meaningless."

  
  

   

  • 12:25 pm
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