Bird flu will come to Arctic

It is only a matter of time before the avian flu virus reaches the United States and the rest of North America, an expert in bird migration patterns told Reuters news service. No corner of the world is immune, he said.

“By knowing the migratory patterns of birds and areas where species overlap while traveling between their breeding sites and winter grounds, one can predict precisely where problems will occur,” said Thomas Van’t Hof, an ornithologist at Wright State University in Ohio.

The avian flu, which has spread from Asia to Europe, has killed an estimated 61 people. But officials fear it may soon change into a strain that could be passed easily between people.

The World Health Organization recently warned that “the world is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic.”

Next spring, when infected birds migrate to the Arctic to nest, they will mix with birds from North America, Van’t Hof explained.

“There is really no populated area of the world that will be immune,” Van’t Hof said.