Bird flu fears


Photo: Vo Van Su Posted by Picasa

The dreaded H5N1 bird flu virus is in the news almost every day. In an interview, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan points out how serious the situation is. Only a few countries have the necessary medicines and vaccines needed in case a pandemic breaks out.

Experts say the H5N1 strain is mutating steadily and fear it will eventually acquire the changes it needs to spread easily amongst humans. If it does, it will sweep around the world in months and could kill millions of people.

"We need to make sure that we do not allow intellectual property to get in the way of access of the poor to medicines by allowing for emergency production of vaccines in developing countries," Annan said.

Read the article here.

The photo is from VN Express, a Vietnamese newspaper.

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