The World Health Organization is sounding the alarm over H5N1 bird flu becoming human pandemic. Analysts are calling for immediate mass vaccinations of poultry.

The virus is already responsible for killing 54 people in Asia and appears to spread only by close interaction of humans with sick birds or infected poultry

Christina Ficara - All Headline News Staff Reporter

The warning follows the deaths of 5,000 migratory birds in the outbreak, in Qinghai province; which is five times greater than China's official estimate

The first reported strain of bird flu virus has been confirmed on a poultry farm in Mitsukaido, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Local media reported that officials from the agriculture ministry and Ibaraki prefectural government stated the bird flu virus is far less virulent than the avian flu virus that infected farms last year, and only a small percentage of chickens infected in Mitsukaido have died

A report from the Trust for America's Health non-profit group predicted Friday that half a million Americans could die and more than 2 millions could end up in the hospital with serious complications if an even moderately severe strain of a pandemic flu hits.

The group warns the United States only has 965,256 staffed hospital beds, an insufficient amount in the event a pandemic does hit

An experimental treatment shows positive results for helping patients suffering from diabetes regain their ability to make insulin.

Such help would lessen the need for shots to regulate normal blood sugar levels