Bird flu: young at most risk, By Julie Robotham
March 2, 2006

YOUNG, healthy people are more likely to succumb to bird flu, raising fears that a pandemic may disproportionately kill children and those in early adulthood.

Tony Cunningham, the director of the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research, said an analysis of Asian cases showed that healthy people apparently mounted such a powerful immune response that the resulting inflammation could cause death by overwhelming their lungs and other organs.