It's for the birds...

I just sat in on a meeting where a part of the time was spent discussing the anticipated Avian Influenza Pandemic. I felt like I had been transported back in time a couple of years. Since this was a slow year for other natural disasters (hurricane free in '06!), now we're back to the bird flu. Apparently, the two hundred or so laboratory confirmed cases of human infection worldwide have resulted in a roughly fifty percent mortality rate. Over three years. Wait. Three whole years? Okay, that's where I put away my panic face for another, more appropriate, time. Let me go cancel that biohazard suit I just ordered. And it's still being determined if the virus is even communicable from person to person yet, or just by infected bird to human transimission. Let me just say that the bird flu has nothing on HIV/AIDS. They (meaning the bird flu's "people") need to step up their marketing strategy a little if they want it to become THE epidemic of this generation.