Weil Combats Bird Flu 'Paranoia' By Carla McClain

Our anxiety over bird flu - the fear it might set off a worldwide pandemic - is making us sicker than the virus itself, says Tucson's celebrity physician, Dr. Andrew Weil.

Trying to calm what he sees as rampant "paranoia" about bird flu, Weil is using national media to stress that the virus remains a threat almost exclusively to birds. And if it ever develops into a human plague - a big if - there are signs it may be less deadly and more easily controlled than first thought.

Even so, Weil - who has studied influenza pandemics from throughout human history - maintains a serious respect for the potential havoc the bird flu virus could wreak across the globe, in a worst-case scenario.

"I am very, very interested in bird flu, and I do think it's a real concern," said Weil, a Harvard Medical School graduate who founded the movement combining mainstream and alternative medicine, headquartered at the University of Arizona.

"But at the moment, there is paranoia over it that is not justified. This virus is not contagious person to person, so the current fear of it is unfounded," he said. "That doesn't mean we don't need to keep a close eye on it. We do. But we don't need to lose sleep over it."