The bird flu has me somewhat concerned as I live in China. The cases reported so far in Vietnam and China have occured where people are living in very close conditions to the chicken's, ducks and other fowl they rear. Those areas are also high density population areas so if it does jump/mutate further then the problem could be very nasty and potentially a killer.

When the SARS appeared the year before last the Chinese Govt was caught with it's trousers firmly around it's ankles, however the figures have to be balanced against the population here. There were just over 3,500 cases in a population of 1.3 billion, of which there were just over 250 deaths. Hardy an epedemic. I was prevented from travelling around China for work and even my home office in the UK did not want me appearing there, that lasted for 10 weeks.

Last year alone over 150,000 people were killed in accidents on the roads here. 8,000 alone in Shanghai. Deaths in the awfull coal mines amounted to over 8,000. That said stuff all has been done by the government here to shut down the illegal mines and improve safety in the legal ones. As for road deaths again stuff all action.

Little appears in the govt controlled press here about the bird flu and the actions being taken in the rural areas to stop its spread amongst the fowl or even the potential jump to humans. The govt does not like to report bad news that might put China in a bad light, their excuse is that it prevents potentail 'social disorder'

If it does occur then the govt here does have the ability to shut down travel and try to prevent its spread, but it will not do that unless forced by the WHO.