[grania]

As long as the virus remains largely contagious only within the poultry population, it's only an economic disaster.

I thought those first German cases were migratory wild swans.

There was a nasty virus a few years back (West Nile virus?) that did a number on birds in SE Massachusetts. I wonder if this is related to "bird flu".

From what I'm reading, the real disaster is economic, if poultry cannot be processed and the economics and fear factor create a situation where people cut back on work, travel, shopping, etc., and lock themselves in their houses.

Sure would like to be corrected on my impressions. It's so hard to separate the truth, the "reassure the public" PR, the bad journalism, and the panic.

[toomanylaws]

"From what I'm reading, the real disaster is economic"

It could be worse than that. Just think if it spreads to the chickens, and they have to destroy all of the chickens in France, who would be left?