There are a lot of scary stories out there about the next pandemic, but we have to make difficult decisions without a lot of information. The real answer is we don't know until the next pandemic virus appears.
I think it's significant because it draws our attention to the fact that this is a very, very difficult disease to get for humans.
Bird flu is a disease among animals; it's very difficult for this virus to move from poultry into humans. Our concern is that it will change in a way that will allow it to easily move between humans, and that will trigger a pandemic.
Tens of millions of birds have been affected. But there have been only about 117 human cases in two years, ... This is a very difficult disease to move from animals to humans.
There seems to be a heightened sense of concern about an extraordinarily rare disease. It is very, very, very difficult for humans to acquire, even with direct exposure.