British health chief says flu no joke

LONDON, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Britain's chief medical officer says the prospect of an avian influenza pandemic is no joke.

Sir Liam Donaldson told public health leaders at a meeting last week he fears the flu could begin infecting residents of Britain without anyone being aware of it because of complacency.

"Many doctors think, 'Flu is flu, we see it every winter'," Donaldson said. "We have got to get the message through that this is going to be much more serious."

Donaldson plans to distribute a pamphlet to every household in the country on how Britons can protect themselves in the event of a flu pandemic.

Experts fear the H5N1 strain of avian influenza -- which has killed millions of birds in Asia directly and through culling -- could mutate to allow human-to-human transmission. So far it has killed 62 people but has infected only those who work closely with poultry.

Donaldson said he worries when he hears health professionals make dead parrot jokes. The only identified case in the British Isles occurred in a parrot in quarantine at Heathrow International Airport.