H5N1 bug could be a bigger killer than H1N1 if it mutates
SINGAPORE has bought a million doses of a vaccine to protect the
people here against the H5N1 bird flu. The vaccine will arrive
by the end of the year. The bug is particularly scary for
Singapore, which sits next to Indonesia, the country with the
most cases (163) and deaths (135) from the virus. Vietnam, with
the next highest number of cases (115) and deaths (58), is also
nearby. Both countries have already had one death each this
year. Unlike the H1N1 pandemic that swept the globe last year,
the H5N1 bug could be a bigger killer by far if it mutates. Of
the 486 people reported to have been infected by H5N1 since
2003, 287 have died. This works out to an almost six-in-10 death
rate. Although the H5N1 virus now cannot spread from human to
human, experts fear that it will mutate enough to do so one day.
So before this can happen, the Ministry of Health has acted to
secure supplies of the vaccine, since vaccines take a
notoriously long time to produce. T