Bird Flu May Become a Global Threat

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that Asia’s bird flu could become a global pandemic if the disease mutated enough to allow human-to-human transmission.

“When sufferers of regular human influenza are infected with a bird flu, a hybrid virus might be created that is more dangerous,” said Steve Ostroff, deputy director of the CDC`s National Center for Infectious Diseases.

A human influenza that has been latent may become active again or an animal virus may become a deadly strain, posing a threat to humans. The flu bird is the latter case, he added.

The World Health Organization earlier warned that the virus may mutate into a strain transmissible among people.

Researchers at the University of Michigan said that the more widespread it becomes, the greater the possibility that the virus could become altered and spark a serious epidemic.

Hong Kong authorities announced that bird flu virus was identified in a bird found dead on the border with China on Thursday. The announcement triggered accusations that the Chinese government had covered up a bird flu outbreak.

Thailand had covered up a bird flu outbreak for two weeks.