New Year, Old Flu

The Chinese New Year is today: the year of the ox (or, in some renderings, the year of the water buffalo). Celebrations of the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, are taking place across China and in Chinese communities around the world. Unfortunately, in China New Year festivities have coincided with new outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of avian flu in the human population. As many as six people may have died already, including a woman who visited a live poultry market before becoming ill (a toddler who also visited a live market came down with the flu, but recovered). According to the World Health Organization, more than 250 people have died from H5N1 over the past five years. The last year of the rooster in the Chinese calendar was 2005.