Expert highlights bird flu/AIDS danger

A US-based flu expert has expressed concern that bird flu could become pandemic if it reached HIV-positive people, especially in Africa. Although the H5N1 avian flu virus could not pass easily between humans, Dr Robert Webster, of St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, warned that immunocompromised cancer patients had been unable to clear common flu from their systems, and could shed copies of the virus for weeks. "The same could be expected of AIDS patients coming down with H5N1, we're all very worried by the prospect," he told the BBC. H5N1 has not yet reached Africa, but parts of the continent are the final destination for many birds migrating from infected areas.