> According to the wikipedia's quote of WHO the weighted average > mortality rate, which would be across 50 human cases, is 66% in 2006, > and 56% across all 194 cases reported since 2004. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1
All of this pandemic planning is *NOT* about the H5N1 virus. Even though H5N1 kills 66% of the people who get it, there is nothing to worry about. This is a bird disease and the only way to catch it is to handle sick birds. The pandemic planning is about an unknown human flu virus that will arise at some point in the future. They expect that the H5N1 bird virus will learn how not to kill its human hosts by joining forces with a human flu virus. The new virus will have RNA from both predecessors and *WILL* be contagious among humans. Like other flu viruses, it will sweep around the world, and if it inherits the worst parts of the H5N1 then it will create a dangerous pandemic. There are still a lot of ifs there. --Michael Dillon
