The avian flu reportage volume is increasing exponentially, with WHO releasing on Friday some grim probable death #s, as high as 150 million worldwide. Personally (and professionally), I think it’s appropriate to more or less scare the shit out of people—the expected timeframe in the U.S. is roughly a year from now. (Incidentally, the 1919 pandemic was unexpectedly as brutal to the 18-40 demographic as to the old and young.) Susan said she listened to a brief H5N1 interview with the new FDA chief, whom she described as “sounding as clueless as [former FEMA Director] Brown.” That’s encouraging.
