Bird Flu is starting to have an impact on travel!

[GateKeeper]

Interesting to note the increase in travel articles that are referencing the "bird flu". I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I am left wondering why the media has picked up on the avian flu this year more than others. The avian virus has been around a very long time, so what's changed this year to make it so worthy of so much discussion? Today's news feeds have multiple references to the outbreak in Turkey and the impact it is having on travel there. Bookings are down, advisories are being published. It makes me wonder what it's all about.
I saw a news clip on the conditions in China at the markets where meats and vegetables are sold by individual vendors. It was an eye opener to see the lack of hygene, as we define it in the U.S. and I was left with the impression that if there is any value in the possibility of a pandemic, it has existed for a long time. So why now? Have conditions changed in the virus itself? It has always had the capability of mutating and becoming airborne and transferable by humas, the combination of which is what the health officials are so afraid of. But why now? It seems, and here comes my paranoia, that they know something more and it hasn't reached the public information system yet. Otherwise, this topic should have been getting the same attention for the past few years. Travel hasn't changed that much in recent years. The only thing different might be that since 9/11 there has been a steady return to International travel for U.S. citizens. Aside from that we've been vulnerable to the same issues for a long time. Are we being tempered for something more serious to come? And something that is already "KNOWN" in the medical/scientific community? It's hard for me to say, but there sure is a lot more news on it today than a year ago.
Why Turkey (the country) is front and center right now may be that the cases of the flu there can be more closely monitoroed by interested parties. We're left up to a controlled media source in China, and there have been suggestions that we aren't getting a clear picture there as to the extent of the issue. So a country with a more open media policy may be subject to more scrutiny simply because the media has more access to the sources. What ever the reason, I only hope the attention fits the caliber of the problem. Otherwise these countries will be seriously impacted by travel warnings and the like, possibly resulting from unfounded or an over reaction to the a few published cases. Their only mistake is making their cases "public" when the real source of the problem is left undocumented and dependent on a tightly controlled media.
The impact of this bird flu issue has only begun to surface, but I'm left with more questions about the timing and rationale for the increase concern than I am about the actual threat. The threat has been around a long, long time.