The Killer Flu

This BBC article talks about outbreaks in Indonesia of the H5N1 strain of the virus that carries the bird flu. Four Indonesians have been confirmed to have died from the virus, which has already killed dozens of people across Asia.

Indonesian officials have urged people not to panic, saying there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. So far. However, as explained in my previous posting, health officials fear that if the virus combines with the human influenza virus (a likely possibility,) it could become highly infectious and lead to a global flu pandemic.

Despite the spread of the disease in Indonesia, the outbreak is still being classified at a level three alert by the World Health Organization, whose pandemic alert has six phases, ranging from zero infection in birds and humans to a full-scale pandemic. That's reassuring, since 3 is better than 6, but I'd prefer it to be zero.

The unsettling news:

The WHO has urged countries with infected poultry to use widespread mass culling as the best method of stopping the spread of the disease.

But the Indonesian government has only carried out limited culling, preferring to vaccinate poultry because of the expense of compensating farmers.

Money trumps human life everywhere in the world apparently.