Cost of bird flu rises

Bird-Flu Pandemic Could Cost $2 Trillion
Afghanistan -- Bird flu – An Afghan woman feeds chicken in a village near Kabul, 23 January 2006. (Size: 220x155)

September 18, 2006 -- A severe bird-flu pandemic among humans could cost the global economy up to $2 trillion, the World Bank warns, sharply raising earlier estimates.

The comments on September 17 came as a senior World Health Organization official said the threat from the H5N1 avian-flu virus was just as real today as it was six months ago.

(Reuters)