Flight of fancy

Not since Monty Python's Flying Circus burst onto the UK comedy scene in the 1970s has there been so much fuss about a dead parrot.

Without wishing to minimise the potential threat posed by avian influenza, I think there is a far more real danger of getting things way out of proportion.

Yes, it is inevitable that there will be another flu pandemic among the human population. And yes, it is highly likely that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza that has emerged in the Far East will be spread by migrating wild birds to western Europe.

If - and it is still a big if - the two viruses come together and mutate into a form that can be transmitted from human to human, then, and only then, will we be facing a situation that could be deemed to be a crisis.

But there are several factors in play that could change the situation entirely. For one thing, the health authorities are aware of the risk and are drawing up contingency plans, should the worst come to pass. This includes increasing stockpiles of flu vaccines and antiviral treatments. And for another, methods of poultry keeping in western Europe are very different from those commonly employed in the Far East - and we have the expertise and the will to take appropriate measures to prevent contact with potential sources of infection.

And don't forget that although the unfortunate parrot was infected by a consignment of birds from the Far East, all the birds were in quarantine at the time, demonstrating that the first line of defence - in the UK at least - fulfilled its purpose.

So why are so many people in the UK running around like headless chickens? Much as it pains me to say so, I think the media has a lot to answer for. On one hand they are urging us all not to panic, while on the other filling pages of newsprint, hours of airtime and gigabytes of cyberspace with alarming details and speculative comment. Very few have gone out of their way to stress that human flu affects only humans, while avian flu, with a few isolated exceptions, affects only birds.

It's not so long ago that SARS and vCJD were being touted as the first step in the extinction of homo sapiens, yet in neither case has the reality come close to the predictions of doom and gloom.

To put things into perspective, spare a thought - or better still, some cash - for those made homeless by the recent earthquake and facing a Himalayan winter without proper shelter. The fate of these people is now yesterday's news, as far as the fickle media are concerned - pushed off the front pages by a dead parrot.