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During the past several years, an especially virulent strain of
avian flu has ravaged flocks of domesticated poultry in
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-
com:office:smarttags" />Asia and spread to migratory birds.
Fortunately, only rarely has it been transmitted from bird to
human, and probably not at all between humans . . . yet. But flu
virus mutates readily, and virologists expect that sooner or
later it will acquire the ability to spread from person to
person. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-
com:office:office" /> This is potentially catastrophic. The
avian flu strain H5N1 already has two of the three
characteristics needed to cause a pandemic: It can (1) jump from
bird to human and (2) produce an often fatal illness; more than
60 deaths have been attributed to H5N1. If additional genetic
evolution makes the virus highly transmissible among h