Bird Flu -- How the Nightmare Begins

Somewhere in Southeast Asia (or Africa, theSoon those viruses are spreading through the pig.
Mid-East, Europe etc) . . .Several days later, the farmer's oldest son comes
A hen clucks and shifts around in her perch. Sheto feed the pig. Heavily infected with the
sniffs and sneezes.contagious form of lethal bird flu, the pig snorts
Inside the lining of her respiratory tract and lungs,and sneezes onto the boy.
millions of influenza viruses -- commonly called AWho later rough houses with his friends at school,
H5N1 or bird flu -- are infecting her cells andincluding Pim.
forcing them to replicate millions more of thePim takes the virus home to his father, Yu.
virus.The next day, Yu takes a bus to Bangkok to buy
This is the same virus that's deadly to chickens.some supplies and equipment for his farm. He
People can catch it through close contact withspends much of the day talking over his order
chickens, but they can not spread it to otherwith Mr. Chen, the owner of The White Lotus
people.Farm Store.
The hen excretes, her white waste material -- fullMr. Chen goes home that evening and spends a
of A/H5N1 -- falling to the floor below, mixing inlot of intimate time with his wife, who is leaving
with the dirt and other chicken manure.tomorrow to spend two weeks visiting relatives in
The pig below the hen also feels ill. Several daysChicago, U.S.A.
ago, the farmer who owns them both sneezedWhen Mrs. Chen boards the early morning Thai
on the pig while feeding her. Now the pig has aAirways flight to Los Angeles, she is not aware
case of ordinary human flu. It's not life-threateningthat 145 kilometers away from her, a chicken and
to the farmer or the pig, but it is highlya pig are dead . . . and a farmer's son and his
contagious.friend are too sick to go to school.
Hungry despite her flu, the pig gobbles downNeither do the other 200 passengers who spend
some chicken manure, including some which11 hours breathing the same air as Mrs. Chen.
contains A/H5N1.The farmers have taken their children to the
A/H5N1 works its way through the pig's body tonearby clinic, which has taken throat samples and
the pig's respiratory system. There, it startssent them to the United Nations World Health
drilling into the pig's cells with its spikes ofOrganization laboratories to be tested.
hemagluttin.The doctor is worried, because the other family
There it meets up with a virus of ordinary flumembers are also feeling poorly and so many of
infecting the pig -- just like two bank robbers whotheir farm animals have died. He's feeling weak
enter the same vault from two sides.himself.
It's not true love, but it's not bad. They combineAfter landing at Los Angeles International Airport,
genetic material and soon have an offspring who'ssome of Mrs. Chen's fellow passengers go into
the best of both of them.Los Angeles. Some of them go on to flights to
As contagious between human beings as ordinaryCanada, Latin America and New York City. A few
flu.plan to continue on to London and Paris. Mrs. Chen
As lethal to human beings as A/H5N1.finds her gate to a flight to Chicago.
Soon Junior uses the neurasminadse proteinA few days later, WHO and CDC workers fly to
spikes on his surface to cut himself loose fromthe small farming village and the government
the pig's cell he calls home, and makes his wayimposes a travel ban on the entire province.
out into the world . . . to infect his very own cell.In Chicago, Mrs. Chen has taken to her bed and
He takes over its genetic material and soon hasher relatives are sneezing on their jobs . . .
instructed the cell to replicate millions more ofBird flu could become highly contagious in several
himself.ways. Here is one plausible scenario.