But there was no evidence that it had acquired the human-flu characteristics it would need to be passed easily between people.Once that happens, the result would be a pandemic that could cause as many as seven million deaths, the WHO has warned.The WHO has raised fears that bird flu could mix with a virus carried by pigs, which are genetically more similar to humans, giving rise to a mutated strain that would become transmissible among people.However, Mr Meslin noted that traditional Asian farming methods resulted in close contact between humans and animals, which meant a bird-flu virus that was contagious among people was more likely to come from someone who caught avian influenza directly from poultry.(AP). If it happens, which is not yet proven, it’s going to be worse than Sars. A full-blown flu virus you can transmit easily to people in your family or people you work with. It’s a highly contagious disease compared to Sars.”Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, killed 774 and infected nearly 8,000, mostly in Asia, in 2003.The H5N1 bird-flu virus, which ravaged the region’s poultry stocks, also spread to people, killing 32 people in Thailand and Vietnam. International health officials warned yesterday that the world was closer to its next pandemic – a potent mix of avian influenza and a human flu virus – and that Asia was likely to be its epicentre.
Francois-Xavier Meslin, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) co-ordinator for disease control, prevention and eradication, said: “We are getting closer, but when it’s going to happen, I don’t know. What is very obvious to me is that the Iraqi people here, they are not going to quit on this task either.

They are going to see it through.”And just imagine the difference that a stable and democratic Iraq would make not just to people in Iraq, but throughout the whole of the region and the world.”Now when I see that, yes I believe we did the right thing.”Mr Allawi told reporters: “Of course we in Iraq do greatly appreciate the sacrifices of the British people, the brave soldiers of Britain and other friendly nations I assure you that it was all for a very good cause.”. But here in Baghdad you feel the sense of the challenge and the difficulty that there is.”Mr Blair was asked whether he believed the sacrifice of thousands of lives had been worthwhile.The Prime Minister said: “When I meet the people working alongside the UN, Iraqis in fear of their lives everyday because they are trying to bring freedom and democracy to their people, when I see their courage and their determination and know that they speak for the vast majority of people in Iraq who want that democracy and freedom, then I know that we are doing the right thing.”And whatever people felt about the original conflict, we the British aren’t a nation of quitters. I am sure that there are parts of Iraq that are very much calmer. Tony Blair flew into in Baghdad today for talks with his Iraqi counterpart Iyad Allawi.

He said: “We have been told this many times before, such as when the interim government was formed, but things always get worse.”. Few of the prisoners taken in Fallujah were non-Iraqi.The election of a 275-member National Assembly on 30 January which is largely Shia and Kurdish may further alienate the Sunni Arabs and lead to more violence. There is likely to be a boycott of the polls in Sunni rural areas. In Baghdad, middle-class Sunnis may vote but in mixed areas people may be too frightened.Ghassan Atiyyah, a writer and academic, presenting the manifesto of a non-sectarian group called the Iraqi Independence Bloc, said there was no reason why the situation should improve after the election.

Mr Allawi said: “The Defence Minister was talking from his own perspective. It does nor represent the government position.”Though the US and the interim government have frequently claimed that foreign fighters were leading the battle in Fallujah and other Sunni cities, there is no evidence that they are more than a marginal element. Mr Shalaan said that they were co-operating with the al-Qa’ida group in Iraq and their leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Many Shia and Sunni Iraqis believe these bombings were carried out by Salafi or Wahabi Sunni militants who denounce all Shias as infidels.