While H5N1 gets the lion’s share of the media’s attention, there
are other influenza viruses in the wild believed capable of
sparking the next flu pandemic. Over the past dozen years we’ve
seen a number of avian flu strains that have made limited jumps
to human hosts. - In 2003, an outbreak of H7N7 at a poultry farm
in the Netherlands went on to infect at least 89 people (mostly
mildly, but 1 death), and many more may have been infected
subclinically. - In Egypt - in 2004 - 2 infants were shown to be
infected by the H10N7 avian flu virus. - In 2006 1 person in the
UK was confirmed to have contracted H7N3, and the following
year, 4 people tested positive for H7N2 – both following local
outbreaks in poultry. But in terms of greatest concern, the
closest runner up to H5N1 is probably H9N2 – which is known to
have infected a handful of humans, mostly in Asia. To date, most
of these cases have produced relatively mild illness.
Nevertheless, the World Health Organization has announced that
work has begun on the cre