THE SUDDEN AND MYSTERIOUSLY RAPID SPREAD OF THE VIRUS HAS EXPERTS CONFUSED AND WORRIED FROM THE EU TO INDIA

Bird flu is spreading rapidly across the EU and the experts are baffled. Why does it appear here? they ask, and yet not there.

The H5N1 virus rose up out of China almost five five years ago, but then barely moved beyond Asia. In recent weeks, the virus has sparked massive bird slaughters and crippling fear across six EU countries and more than a dozen other countries surrounding the EU.

And then there's India. With so many chickens kept in such close proximity to humans, and with so many migratory birds crossing the continent, India should have been one of the first countries infected when H5N1 took flight a few years ago. But it has only shown itself in the last week in India, sparking slaughters of 50,000 plus birds.

From the Sydney Morning Herald :

"The most perplexing report was that of a single case in France, a wild duck found dead in Lyons, because migratory birds from Asia that carry the virus do not normally go there at this time of year.

"'After several years in one place, why is it now moving so rapidly?" the director of the Animal Production and Health Division at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Samuel Jutzi, wondered. "There is a lot about this that we just don't know."