well if god intelligently designed the flu virus, or the HIV virus etc..., he's a mastermind mass murderer. which, by the way doesn't surprise me due to the fact that people murder in his name everyday.... (end sarcasm here).

On a more realistic note...the bird flu, is a regular flu virus. There are two proteins (ligands) that promote virulence in the flu virus; Neurominidase and Hemoglutinin (hence the H1N1, etc..notations when they mention the flu viru), just a slight mutation on the genes that code fore these two proteins will give you the varoius serotypes and strains that may just be differnet enough to escape immunity in your body. This is nothing but logical due to the reproductive behavior of the virus. More than one virus strain can infect a single cell join together within the cell to form a new strain. Not only is there variability within each protein, but the combination of the two proteins together form new strains and serotypes of the flu virus that we as humans may have never seen and therefore have no immunity to them (such as the "bird" flu). This is natural selection at it's finest, in this case the environmental stressor is the immune system. Since the body develops immuinty to certain strains they won't survive, however, new strains will. Survival of the fittest.[/i]