Bird flu has killed 62 people in Asia since 2003 and forced the slaughter of millions of fowl, according to a Reuters
The World Health Organization warns that bird flu has the potential to trigger a global pandemic if the virus mutates and becomes easily transmittable between humans.
"Bird flu has not been effectively contained. The threat of it mutating so people can transmit it is still there, and the threat is very large," says Zhong Nanshan, one of China's leading SARS experts.
Fears of a global outbreak of bird flu have grown since the deadly strain of bird flu, once largely confined to Asia, was found in eastern Russia and Kazakhstan.
