What do the experts truly fear about this pandemic ?

1. The number of confirmed cases of H1N1 is very high, and there are innumerable cases that came and went unreported because people just recovered. The percentage of fatalities is very low.

There are definitely some unusual things happening with this current pandemic:
a) the age group of those afflicted is generally lower than seasonal flu;
b) flu in July is not normally an issue in the Northern Hemisphere

2. H1N1 is a relatively mild disease, however it spreads very, very easily.

3. There is still an influenza virus called H5 avian flu. Avian flu infrequently crosses the species barrier to infect humans. And when it does it is not very transmissible from person to person.

4. However, the H5 avian flu virus is much more pathogenic with some reports of at least to 50% of people infected with avian flu actually die from it.

5. There is a fear that the H1N1 virus which is now in Asia will infect birds that have H5 avian influenza. The genetic material of the two viruses will get combined and produce a new influenza strain.

6. So we’ll have a new virus with the pathogenicity of the current H5 avian flu, and the ease of transmission of the novel H1N1 that is currently crossing the world.