Bird flu poses no immediate threat to Europe, leading virologist claims

Albert Osterhaus, the chairman of the European scientific working group on influenza, said this week that isolated outbreaks of avian influenza in western Europe did not “substantially increase the risk of a flu pandemic.”

Professor Albert Osterhaus said in 2003, “My suggestion to policy makers is: why don't you stockpile antivirals?'

Credit: GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT/AP

It was important not to confuse the threat posed by highly pathogenic avian flu with …