[Dog Gone]

Deadly flu, global killer

• 1918, Spanish flu: Hit up to 40 per cent of world population, and killed over 20 million people. Many people died very quickly, while others died of complications such as pneumonia.

• 1957, Asian flu: This virus was identified more quickly, due to advances in science, but not before killing 1 million people.

• 1968, Hongkong flu: Was fatal mainly to the old - those over the age of 65 were its main victims. It claimed about 800,000 lives.

• 1997, Bird flu: The avian virus crossed over into humans, killing six people and prompting the government to slaughter all 1.4 million chickens in Hongkong, and triggering worldwide alarm. Some scientists believe it is only a matter of time before a similar pandemic recurs, as the flu virus is capable of mutating to avoid immune system defences and vaccines deployed against it.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

I read somewhere (and this story is no exception) that all flus start in China. Speculation runs that because large segments of the population live with farm animals in their houses, germs spread freely back and forth among them and the humans through direct contact. Pigs are especially suspect for generating flu germs, and the Chinese farmers do live with real pigs in the house (the Chinese character for happiness is supposedly a pig under the roof of a house).

For tin-foil hat types, it would be extremely easy to spread a new laboratory-created deadly flu from China to start a world epidemic, especially now that Hong Kong is open to the Red Chinese.