Fast facts about avian influenza

3 — types of influenza virus (A, B, C)¹
1 — type that can cause pandemics (A)¹
1 — A-virus subtype currently freaking the world out (H5N1)^{1, 2}
0 — successful vaccines against H5N1 avian flu currently available³
18 — people infected by avian flu in Hong Kong in 1997, the first case of direct spread from birds to humans^{1, 4}
6 — people who died of avian flu in Hong Kong in 1997¹
5 — years after first human infection that no confirmed human cases of avian flu were reported (1998-2002)⁴
5 — countries in which human infection has been reported since 2003⁵
135 — confirmed human cases of avian flu reported to the World Health Organization since Dec. 26, 2003, at press time⁵
69 — confirmed human deaths from avian flu reported to WHO since Dec. 26, 2003, at press time⁵
3 — flu pandemics in the 20th century (1918-19 Spanish flu, 1957-58 Asian flu, 1968-69 Hong Kong flu)⁶
1 million — estimate of the number of people worldwide who died during the Hong Kong flu pandemic⁷
2 million to 7.4 million — WHO’s “conservative” estimate of the number of people who could die during the next pandemic⁷
80 — countries represented by health officials who met with the U.S. State Department in October to discuss strategies for facing a possible pandemic⁸
4 — hours White House officials will spend on a pandemic preparedness drill on Dec. 10, 2005¹²
$800 billion — estimate of one-year worldwide economic impact of an avian flu pandemic⁹
$71.3 billion to $166.5 billion — estimate of economic impact on the U.S. of an avian flu pandemic⁶
$7.1 billion — amount of emergency funding asked of Congress by President Bush to prepare for a possible pandemic¹⁰
$0 — amount granted by Congress so far; the request was dropped from a health-funding bill¹¹
13 — South Korean chickens infected with avian flu that were then fed an extract of kimchi, a spicy variation of sauerkraut¹³
11 — chickens that began recovering within a week¹³
850 — percent jump in sauerkraut sales reported by stores in Minnesota’s Twin Cities after the kimchi story was reported locally¹⁴