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United Nations notes quick spread of bird flu

Infection Control Monitor, April 7, 2006

The deadly bird flu virus has spread at an accelerated rate over the past three months, infecting birds in 30 new countries, according to the Associated Press. "This is a really serious global situation," Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nation's chief coordinator for avian influenza, told reporters in Beijing. "During the last three months globally, there has been an enormous and rapid spread of H5N1." Dr. Roger Glass, a U.S. health expert at a Beijing health conference called for more infectious disease research in Asia, and for scientists to more closely monitor changes in the H5N1 strain to prepare for a possible pandemic. Bird flu resurfaced in Asia in 2003 and has killed at least 108 people. Although it is still not easily transmitted among humans, experts fear it will mutate into a form that will spread quickly among people, and likely cause a pandemic.

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