The stakes apparently are colossal. The WHO has declared a pandemic "inevitable," likely to kill between one and 7 million (Reuters 9/8.) A recent British study, focused only on Britain, shows a pandemic would cripple the UK economy. (The virus is said to have killed about half of all 112 persons known to have been infected.) Only one drug is effective, but no adequate stockpiles--in Britain, sufficient to protect less than 2% of the population for a week. (TIMES, 8/28)
(For much more detailed information, google H5N1, the technical designation for the virus.)
The Bush response: stockpile $100mm worth of the only vaccine known to be effective(oseltamivir, sold as Tamiflu)[ABC News 9/16]; and push 5 major countries, including Russia and China and the UN to pool resources in an effort to head off a pandemic (The Independent.co.uk today)
Very sobering, perhaps horrifying, decisions are also being made by Blair. (Is Bush doing the same thing here?)