Taichung City Animal Protection-Avian Influenza Q&A-Avian Flu and SARS, which is more dreadful?

The symptoms of avian influenza are similar to those of SARS. Taiwan has experienced the disease control methods for SARS, and Three Main Strategies and Four Lines of Defense for avian influenza have been proposed. Once effective vaccines are successfully created, and antiviral agents are sufficiently prepared, the harm that avian influenza may do on us will be minimized with real-time monitoring and inspection. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that about two to seven million people may lose their lives if a global outbreak of avian influenza should occur recently, which will lead to a global economics crisis.

According to the prediction model proposed by CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US), once the avian influenza viruses become transmissible from human to human, there may be up to 5.3 million people getting infected. More than 70,000 people may need hospitalization and about 14,000 people may die. The social and economic impact of avian influenza will be ten times greater than that of SARS.