Avian Influenza Knowledge among Medical Students, Iran

To the Editor: Avian influenza is an infectious disease caused by type A strains of influenza virus (1). Since January 2004, Thailand and several other Southeast Asian countries have experienced outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry, and >100 million poultry have been culled or have died (www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en). The prevalence of severe and fatal cases involving bird-to-human transmission is increasing (2). Experts fear that the avian influenza virus now circulating in Asia will mutate into a highly infectious strain and pass not only from animals to humans, but also among humans, which would lead to a pandemic (3).