CDC Director Gerberding Cites Avian Flu As "Very Ominous" Threat

Avian flu, which has killed millions of birds and several dozen people in Asia, poses a "very ominous" threat to humans worldwide, the top doctor at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control warned yesterday.

In an address to the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding noted that the in its current form poses a relatively limited problem for humans. But, she said, the history of influenza suggests it could mutate into a strain that could rival the 1918 outbreak of Spanish flu that left an estimated 50 million people dead.

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