The hysteria over a possible bird flu pandemic is overblown, according to Dr. Neil Ferguson, an infectious disease epidemiologist who's speaking now to scientists at the annual AAAS meeting in San Francisco.
"We're no closer to a pandemic now than we have been for 20 years or so," Ferguson said. According to him, there's no evidence to suggest that there's been more human exposure to avian flu than in years past. "What we have is more visible human infections."
He's now moving on to the value of wearing masks during a flu epidemic. Should anyone bother? Look for more on that in a future post.
