Avian Influenza: The Potential Pandemic Danger

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Bird flu or Avian influenza is spreading like wild fire from Cambodia to Croatia and Romania to Russia including India in 2006, engulfing more than seventeen countries. The genetics of the H5N1 virus plays an important role in the virulence and the impending threat of the influenza pandemic for which more than 150 million chickens have died or culled in Hong Kong only. Recent deaths in migrating birds also have been reported from China, Russia and Mongolia including 70 deaths in human beings. The first epidemic of avian influenza was reported from Italy more than 100 years ago.