Is bird flu, avian flu, H1N1 the same thing as a pandemic?
No. Pandemic flu is a global outbreak of human disease. It is caused by a new influenza virus that is unlike any previous flu, so people will not have any natural immunity to it. The lack of immunity means that a pandemic flu can pass readily from person to person, creating widespread illness. Currently, there is no pandemic flu circulating. Bird flu (or avian influenza) refers to a large group of different influenza viruses that primarily affect birds. On rare occasions, these bird viruses can infect other species, including pigs and humans, but the vast majority of avian flu viruses do not infect people. The current bird flu outbreak in many parts of the world is caused by a type of influenza virus called “H5N1.” H5N1 is already spreading widely in global bird populations. In a very small number of cases, it has passed from birds to humans—generally through direct contact with infected birds-and in a handful of cases, it has passed from human to human. In the few instances of avian f
