South China, flus and immigrants

Marianne Bray:

South China has long been the epicenter of pandemic flus, giving birth to three or four global outbreaks a century.

The Asian flu of 1957 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968 are both believed to have originated in southern China, while the Russian flu of 1977, which appeared in the city of Anshan, was widely thought to be a re-emergence of the 1957 flu.

And some experts, including Kennedy Shortridge, who worked in Hong Kong for many years and teaches at New Zealand's Auckland University, believe the Spanish flu of 1918 spread along the Chinese coast and was carried to America by Chinese immigrants.

That flu alone killed one in 60 of the world's people at the time.

All these flu pandemics can be traced to viruses caught from birds. Virologists believe the flu jumped species when ducks were domesticated in South China 3,000 years ago.

Illness haunts Hmong woman

China treats 3m farmyard birds in avian flu fear

NYC Health Department Worried About Avian Flu

Bird Flu Picks a Genetic Lock

Countries face quarantine in bid to beat killer disease

Epidemic threat as bird flu spreads to migrating geese