http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:GL30sHYNOK0J:www.unison.ie/stories.php3%3Fca%3D10%26si%3D1480143+WHO+moves+to+head+off+panic+over+flu+fears&hl=enTHE World Health Organisation yesterday moved to dampen fears over alarming predictions quoted by one of its own officials. The official had claimed that a pandemic stemming from the bird flu virus ravaging parts of Asia could kill as many as 150m people.
The UN health agency was fielding inquiries from both the media and the general public after Dr David Nabarro - a senior WHO official named yesterday as the new UN co-ordinator for avian and human influenza - cited the number during a news conference at the UN's New York headquarters.
WHO's flu spokesman at the agency's Geneva headquarters made a surprise appearance today at the UN regular media briefing in an effort to put Nabarro's comments in context.
While he did not say the 150m prediction was wrong, or even implausible, he reiterated that WHO considers a maximum death toll of 7.4m a more reasoned forecast.