[H5N1 & The Death of a Parrot
Listening to Radio 4 today, there was a lot of discussion about the fact that a parrot in quarantine died of avian flu. This parrot's death is now the subject of an enquiry and the strain of avain flu that killed it is now being rapidly investigated.

A parrot in quarantine; surely this is what quarantine is for. What's the big fuss about? I am aware the avian flu H5N1 is currently a hot topic and that there has been alot of scaremongering in the media but c'mon.


Over the past four decades, only 18 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, most caused by strains other than H5N1, have occurred throughout the world.
- WHO website
The major threat is migratory birds, and the liklyhood of an infected bird surviving long enough to get here is small. On top of that even in the unfortunate event that a migratory bird infects the domestic bird population, (a wildlife tragedy to be sure) the chances of the HN51 virus mutating to a strain that could infect humans and be highly virulent and of infecting a particular individual (you) is so small that you'd have a better chance of winning the lottery.

What's in a name:Is it only me, or does H5N1 seem a bit trendy, a bit media savvy? A bit like DKNY or FCUK. Could it have been specifically chosen as a name so that it would roll off the tongues of bored news presenters?Maybe I should be less cynical but a quick Google for any reference of a HN50, HN49 or HN48 virus didn't return any virus related results. [My error here should have been searching for variants of H5N1]
Maybe the solution would be to change the name of the virus to something like 'Better chance of winning the lottery' virus.