Posted 22 July 2005 - 10:01 PM Massive flu outbreak could happen
at any moment, WHO warns The world could at any time be faced
with a massive flu outbreak like those in 1918 or 1968 that
killed tens of millions of people, the World Health Organization
warned, urging countries to be prepared. "History has told us
that no one can stop a pandemic. The question is: when is it
going to happen?" WHO spokeswoman Margaret Chan told reporters.
"I don't think anybody has the answer to it. We have to be on
the lookout for any time, any day," she added. Deadly avian
influenza, which has killed 55 people in Asia since resurfacing
in 2003, has the potential to become a major human pandemic if
the virus were to mutate and allow human-to-human transmission,
Chan said. The HN51 strain of bird flu, which has killed
hundreds of thousands of birds, constitutes one of several
"warnings from nature" -- the first since 1968, according to
Chan, Hong Kong's director of health from 1994 to 2003. "We
collectively, particularly national