Disease ecologists at the Consortium for Conservation Medicine in New York City and other institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. have analyzed the entry of the avian flu into the U.S. They believe if it enters the U.S. it will most likely be from migrating birds coming from Latin America. Unlike the U.S. in the Mexico and Brazil there is no testing or quarantine system for imported poultry, opening up an opportunity for the virus to become established in the Western Hemisphere. The virus has caused 154 human fatalities and scientists worry that if it acquires the ability to be passed easily from human to human it may become a pandemic. More research is needed, however, on poultry and wild birds to accurately predict the spread of the virus. Here is the link.