pandemic likely to be centered in asia

the world health organization expects a new strain of flu virus to spread out from asia...

The H5N1 bird-flu virus, which ravaged the region's poultry stocks, also spread to people, killing 32 people in Thailand and Vietnam. But there was no evidence that it had acquired the human-flu characteristics it would need to be passed easily between people.

Once that happens, the result would be a pandemic that could cause as many as seven million deaths, the WHO has warned.

The WHO has raised fears that bird flu could mix with a virus carried by pigs, which are genetically more similar to humans, giving rise to a mutated strain that would become transmissible among people.