Experts admit bird flu virus gaining ground
Published: Wednesday, 15 March, 2006, 09:25 AM Doha Time

PARIS: Experts admit to mingled feelings of relief and apprehension as they survey efforts to combat bird flu, whose human toll is now nudging the 100 mark.
On the plus side: the H5N1 virus remains lethal to poultry and to humans in close proximity but shows no sign of mutating into a feared pandemic virus, transmissible among humans. ...

As for pandemic preparations, strategy is shifting in favour of a swift, localised response, backed by a WHO taskforce, that would use quarantine measures and antiviral drugs at the site where a mutated virus has broken out.

The goal is essentially pragmatic – to dampen and contain the outbreak rather than eradicate it, using precious resources to slow the spread and thus buy time for devising a vaccine and boosting preparedness elsewhere. ... [my emphasis]