The Department of Health is taking the threat of a deadly bird flu very seriously and health organisations around the world say an outbreak could kill up to 150 million people.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann said his department has been in talks with the World Health Organisation (WHO), UK Government, Pan-American Health Organisation and the Centre for Disease Control in Trinidad to prepare for it.

?The key thing to remember is there are concerns the influenza existing in the avian population may mutate or transfer to the human population,? Dr. Cann said.

He said this strain of the flu virus changes subtly and may spread from human to human. As humans have never been exposed to it, immunity levels would be extremely low to non-existent, effectively making the world vulnerable to this strain of virus.

In an increasingly shrinking world, the fact that Bermuda is an Island would not protect us, Dr. Cann said.

?We live in a global community. We have a lot of air travel and ships coming to Bermuda through which it can be spread to us. We don?t have to have the same concerns as other countries where people live in close proximity with birds and foul but it depends ... it might spread through a wild bird.?

When asked whether the large number of migratory birds that pass through Bermuda were a threat, Dr. Cann said although a sick bird might come to Bermuda not enough people are in close proximity with migratory birds to risk passing the flu onto humans.

WHO said the immediacy of the threat meant all countries should undertake urgent action to prepare for a pandemic and advised all governments to take steps to minimise infection and report increased bird flu activity.

Bermuda took WHO?s advice by preparing to vaccinate the population when a vaccine becomes available.

Unfortunately, it takes a long time to produce a vaccine, Dr. Cann said, but he was also investigating other medicines available to lessen the impact of the bird influenza.

?The impact to the human population would be fairly strong unless we are able to produce a vaccine in a timely way. We could not afford the population the degree of protection it expects for existing strains,? he said.

Bermuda is also working on contingency plans with the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre in Trinidad, Dr. Cann said.

?We are not at threat at this immediate point but we have to prepare for the strong likelihood we might be at threat,? he said.

He urged the business community to consider the effects a massive flu could have on Bermuda?s economy, should large numbers of workers in Bermuda?s service economy be unable to work.

?We will reach out the business community to think about what it means if they have people off sick,? he said.

?Imagine what an impact it would have if a significant number of Bermuda?s service industry were all out at the same time.?

People with the flu should be reported and monitored, particularly those with fevers.

In 1918, a flu pandemic swept the world, killing more than 20 million people. Many infectious disease experts now believe that another flu pandemic could be imminent. WHO said that, since December, 2003, there had been 115 confirmed cases of avian flu and 59 deaths in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

Avian flu has a high fatality rate. Experts say avian flu is not a food-borne virus, so eating chicken is safe.