Going to the birds

Today's NYT has a front page story by Gina Kolata on recent research linking the 1918 influenza epidemic (which killed an estimated 50 million people throughout the world) to an avian virus that jumped directly to humans. Given the increase in human populations since 1918 and the vastly greater speed of transmission likely (due to the development of frequent international air travel, among other things), who knows how many people would die in a similar epidemic today?

As Glenn Reynolds noted on Tuesday, President Bush is alert to the danger posed by bird flu, but it would be helpful if the media began to focus on the issue.