Scientists say pandemic is certain

It was 1999 and the world was buzzing with talk of Y2K. Banks were unsure if their computers would crash at midnight on New Years Eve or if they would switch over like nothing happened. People were stockpiling emergency items with fear the world would go back to prehistoric times.

Then at midnight on December 31, the world paused, and took a collective sigh of relief. There were few glitches and many people started laughing at everyone who said it was going to be a big deal -- at everyone who made emergency preparations for the event.

Now, scroll forward 10 years, and part of the world is once again preparing for a different kind of disaster -- a pandemic. A pandemic is a disease that spreads across a major geographical region including an entire country or countries.

Many scientists are now sure that a version of H5N1, or the avian flu, will cause a pandemic in the future. While speaking to health officials at the National Emergency Management Summit Thursday, several experts said the issue was no longer an "if" issue, it was now "when." Without knowing when a pandemic will hit, many hospitals and the government are doing what they can to try to prepare the U.S. for the event.

You can read the rest of this story at this link: Pandemic