An Official World Health Organization press release contains an ominous warning about the potential for a deadly "reassortment" in which the H1N1 swine flu virus combines with the H5N1 bird flu virus to produce a completely new strain. According to the press release, a reassortment of that nature could potentially produce a flu virus that is as devastating to human life as the H5N1 bird flu and that is as highly contagious as the H1N1 swine flu. Considering the fact that the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed over half of the humans that have caught it, such a development could literally bring about the end of the world as we know it. In fact, one of the top flu experts in the world says that if such a reassortment happens, he will immediately retire and lock himself in a containment lab.

Who is that expert?

His name is Yi Guan, one of the top virologists at Hong Kong University.  Back in 2003 he helped isolate the SARS virus.  In a stunning interview with Science Insider, Yi Guan described exactly what he would do if such a recombination takes place.... 

Q: Is it surprising how quickly H1N1 adapted?

Y.G.: All viruses, after interspecies transmission, will evolve fast. But why this H1N1 could become successful at efficient human-to-human transmission is still unknown. We have a knowledge gap about how influenza A viruses build up their pandemicity in humans. As swine H1N1 has being circulating in pigs since 1918, it has accumulated [many] differences from human H1N1 virus. So, for human beings, it looks like a novel subtype, as most human individuals lack immunity to this swine-like H1N1. This is one of the most important conditions for pandemic emergence. Whether the novel virus will develop into a more virulent strain—just like the Spanish flu did in the fall of 1918 to kill more people—we still don't have any idea.

Q: It depends on further mutations?

Y.G.: It depends on mutations and whether the virus further reassorts with other viruses—like H5N1. That could be a super nightmare for the whole world.

Q: You’re talking about the Armageddon virus?

Y.G.: The chance is very, very low that these two viruses will mix together, but we cannot rule out the possibility. Now, H5N1 is in more than 60 countries. It’s a panzootic, present everywhere except North America.

Q: If the nightmare comes true?

Y.G.: If that happens, I will retire immediately and lock myself in the P3 lab. H5N1 kills half the people it infects. Even if you inject yourself with a vaccine, it may be too late. Maybe in just a couple hours it takes your life.

Not only that, but Zhong Nanshan, the director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in China's southern Guangdong province stated during an interview with Reuters television that China is a likely location for such a reassortment to take place....

"China, as you know, is different from other countries. Inside China, H5N1 has been existing for some time, so if there is really a reassortment between H1N1 and H5N1, it will be a disaster."

So just what is a reassortment?  Well, it is what occurs when the genes from two or more different types of flu mix in a host animal and form a completely new strain of the flu that is unfamiliar to humans.

Up until now the H5N1 bird flu has proven to be incredibly deadly but it has been very difficult for humans to catch.  However, the concern is that a reassortment could produce a flu virus that is as deadly to humans as H5N1 but that is as easy to spread as H1N1.

If that happens, tens of millions could die.

The only safe thing to do would be to lock yourself in your home.

So why has the World Health Organization published a press release about this?

Why now?