The Next Killer Flu — Can We Stop It?

Flu season is just around the corner once again. But this time, it may be coming disguised as a serial killer.

There is deep concern that a new killer flu, nicknamed “Bird Flu,” may mix with ordinary flu and kill millions of people. This is how Robert Webster of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis characterizes this killer flu — and take note that Dr. Webster has been studying influenza for the past 40 years:

“This virus right from scratch is probably the worst influenza virus, in terms of being highly pathogenic, that I’ve ever seen or worked with.”

Public health experts, including those at the World Health Organization, fear a catastrophe.

In preparation, the United States has ordered 2.3 million doses of an antiviral called “Tamiflu.” 2.3 million for a country of 300 million. However, the U.S. has decided to place all of its chips on an experimental vaccine, a vaccine that is based on an early seed of bird flu, which most experts agree has already mutated into something quite different, and that means when bird flu gets here, it may not respond to any vaccine.