[Mike Darancette]

The deadly pneumonia-like illness that was the subject of a World Health Organization warning on Saturday originated in southern China..

Most pandemics do, including the 1918 "Spanish Flu".

[MCH]

The deadly pneumonia-like illness that was the subject of a World Health Organization warning on Saturday originated in southern China..
Most pandemics do, including the 1918 "Spanish Flu".

I saw a news magazine show a couple years back that claimed the reason for this was the propensity of poor Chinese peasants to sleep with pigs and chickens. Supposedly the close prolonged proximity between the species generates some nasty bugs.

[SaudiDuck]

If I remember correctly, one of the reasons for this has to do with the migration patterns of ducks and the fact that pigs and fowl are raised in such close proximity to humans. Viruses carried by the birds are easily transferred to the pigs, where they metamorphose into viruses that are easily transmitted among both pigs and humans.