“The Spanish flu, or bird flu, killed 5,000 people in New Mexico and 50 million worldwide. Everyone knew someone who had died,” reports the Santa Fe New Mexican.

“Although the Spanish flu no longer exists, disease specialists now worry that an outbreak of a new avian flu will be as globally devastating as the 1918 version. Already the new bird flu has claimed 67 lives in Southeast Asia, and last week, Turkey and Romania confirmed outbreaks among poultry, the first in Europe. World health organizations and many governments are calling for international meetings to talk about the possibility of a pandemic.

“According to some experts, if avian flu becomes a pandemic, there will be two types of people in the world: those who are exposed to it and die, and those who are exposed to it and live.”