Abstract

In January this year it was observed that 2005 was going to be the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese calendar, and that perhaps was an ill omen for bird (avian) and pandemic influenza. Certainly, influenza was the infection that then dominated the popular press in 2005, and so in a certain way this was a very ‘good’ year for influenza and those who study it. The infection has been getting the attention it deserves as a human threat.