This is what I love about not having TV. The only time I ever read or hear anything about Avian flu is here on FR.
Right now, the IRS is more of a threat to me personally than any bird flu.
Having just read a book about the 1918 influenza epidemic which killed around 100 million worldwide, I can tell you that this is no joke at all. All influenza viruses begin in birds, and if they mutate, like happened with the Spanish Flu, they can kill more in one week than we have lost to AIDs in a decade. We need to take this threat very seriously.