Bird Flu, Pandemic, Lunar New Year Connection Made Public

I've been writing about this for three years; thank goodness the public press has made the connection and someone in the FAO has also made the connection.

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Human bird-flu infections may rise in Asia as people handle more poultry for next week’s Lunar New Year celebrations, according to a United Nations veterinarian who tracks the virus in birds. Health authorities in China, South Korea and Vietnam have stepped up surveillance of H5N1 avian influenza among poultry ahead of the festival, which starts Jan. 26. Production of chickens and ducks swells as much as three times in the run-up to the holiday, making outbreaks more likely, said Jeff Gilbert of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Hanoi, Vietnam.