Why oh why is this such big news? Yes, the bird flu is spread fairly easily and has covered some long distances, but in places of outbreak, in total, it's killed less than 100 people (not to minimize them, of course). The common flu kills 100's or 1000's every year in the U.S.
In the worst-case scenario, bird flu, a.k.a. H5N1, will infect 2 billion humans, and kill 1 billion of them. (Yes, billions). I hope I don't have to remind you of the impact of that. It will make Katrina seem like nothing worth mentioning. If it happens, the world will basically be shut down. The economy would take at least a decade, if not more, to recover.
Imagine bird flu in our domestic poultry industry. I think that would be a bigger concern than humans (at this point).
susie