According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2008 is a Year of the Rat, which begins on February 7, 2008 and ends on January 25, 2009.
First in the cycle of 12 Animal signs, Rat Year begins the sequence and recurs every twelfth year.
Year of the Rat February 7, 2008 – January 25, 2009
With the current year leaving us with a legacy of an increasing number of bird flu victims from a growing list of Nations.
Let us hope that there will be no plagues of any kind in the soon to be upon us year of the Rat!
A Happy new years to every one 
Filed under: 1918, Anti-viral, Avian Flu, Bird Flu, Bird Flu protection, Bird-Flu leadership Summit, Bird-Flu-Free, British, CDC, CIDRAP, Chickens, China, DEFRA, Flu, Flu Summit, H2N3, H5N1, H5de, H7N2, H7N3, H9N2, Health, Hollywood, Human Bird Flu, Human-To-Human H5N1, India, Indonesia, Infection, Influenza, Pandemic, Politics, Poultry, Poultry Factory Farms, Turkeys, UK, UNICEF, USA, Virus, WHO, asymptomatic H5N1, cytokine storm, pathogen, vaccine
Happy New Year to you too.
The 2008 Olympics in Beijing do have me concerned though. If we make it through that without a Pandemic then I believe we stand a chance of betting this H5N1 curse.
Sorry, should have read “beating this H5N1 curse”.
No you were right the first time sandra.
The way we are dealing with the H5N1, sure is a big gamble for us.
We are all betting that it will go away on its own.
JM
BFNF and Sandra,
Isn’t the turkey already out of the bag? – so to speak. H5N1 is now endemic in many countries, the odds are that it will mutate into a less friendly human to human form.
I am betting that we have a very busy year on the net.
Thanks for a reply to my comment. It’s nice to hear from the blog keepers.
Never a hardship to reply to a nice person such as you Sandra