This is the worst-case scenario keeping virologists awake at night, yet the world's scientists have failed to develop a plan to protect us SCIENCE is all about understanding the natural world. And a big part of that has always been understanding those bits of the natural world that threaten us, so we can protect ourselves. While medical science has helped keep disease from the door, we haven't licked it. For the past year, New Scientist has warned that an epidemic of bird flu in east Asian poultry could turn into the next great human plague. Twelve months on, you might expect that scientists would have worked out exactly what we're up against and how we should protect ourselves. Yet surprisingly - and scarily - they haven't. It is surprising and scary because the stakes are so high. The H5N1 bird flu virus has so far had trouble infecting people, but when it does it kills 75 per cent of them. The fear is that it could evolve to spread easily between people -
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