Bird flu

Bird flu has really dropped from the headlines. Sort of like news about Iraq. But, it's still around (AP article), and scientists are still tracking it with some anxiety. Heaven forbid it mutates in some way that makes it much easier for humans to contract. This has happened with who knows how many over diseases in the history of homo sapiens. Many infectious diseases, from AIDS to SARS, almost certainly had animal origins. In some cases a disease actually goes from affecting only a non-human species to affecting only our species. I've no idea if it's ever happened the other way 'round. I'll ask my cat tonight what he knows.

From a article:

Chickens used to roam every dusty street in every village across Egypt, and many of its city alleys too.

But bird flu is changing that. Chickens have nearly all vanished from sight, slaughtered, abandoned or locked away by a population increasingly aware of, and frightened by, the disease's stubborn grip.