Where did the bird flu come from?

Answer 1

Viruses have always been around, probably as long as there has been life on Earth. The influenza virus developed with all the other viruses through mutation of preceding viruses. The bird flu developed from one of those mutations and birds began becoming ill with it and passing it to other birds. When the birds were kept very close together with pigs, the virus was able to mutate through the pigs into a type of flu that people could get because pigs are physiologically very similar to humans. Once the bird flu mutated into a form that people could get from birds, it became more widely known and we began to hear about it even though it had been around a long time before it became a concern for people. It made headlines when people began getting it and 50 to 60 % of those who contracted it died.