The virus H5N1, has a few similarities with the Spanish flu of 1918 that resulted in one of the largest pandemics in the last 200 years. Both of these contagious outbreaks cause high fever, lower respiratory tract failure symptoms, prostration, myalgias, and a postviral weakness that could last up to 6 weeks.

Twenty-four hour access channels have warned of a coming pandemic that may arrive in the form of H5N1 avian influenza, more commonly referred to as