Avian ‘Bird’ Flu – undue media panic or genuine concern for pandemic potential requiring global preparedness action?

• Eskild Petersen,
• Ziad A Memish,
• David S Hui,
• Alessandra Scagliarini,
• Lone Simonsen,
• Edgar Simulundu,
• Jennifer Bloodgood,
• Lucille Blumberg,
• Shui-Shan Lee,
• Alimuddin Zumla

Affiliations

Eskild Petersen

Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark; PandemiX Center, Department of Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark; International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, USA; Correspondence

Ziad A Memish

Research and Innovation Center, King Saud Medical City, Ministry of Health & College of Medicine, Al Faisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory, University, Atlanta, USA; Division of Infectious Diseases, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea

David S Hui

Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; S.H. Ho Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Alessandra Scagliarini

International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, USA; University of Bologna, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Bologna, Italy

Lone Simonsen

PandemiX Center, Department of Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark

Edgar Simulundu

Department of Disease Control, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka 10101, Zambia; Macha Research Trust, Choma, Zambia

Jennifer Bloodgood

International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, USA; Cornell Wildlife Health Lab, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, USA

Lucille Blumberg

International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, USA; National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa; Right to Care; University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science, South Africa

Shui-Shan Lee

International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, USA; S.H. Ho Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Alimuddin Zumla

Department of Infection, Division of Infection and Immunity, Centre for Clinical Microbiology, University College London, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK