[Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus inducing influenza pneumonia in humans].

The human disease caused by avian influenza virus in South Asia is a typical example of emerging infection resulting from transmission of a known causative agent to a new host. The first cases with a comparatively high level of lethality rates among patients were registered in 1997 and 1999. The situation is a special phenomenon in epidemiology which requires deep evolutionary and ecological analysis, as well as theoretical interpretation. With the example of avian influenza virus in Western Europe and South Asia in 2003-2004 the practical expediency of modern concepts "foci versus epidemics" and "eradication versus vaccination" is now evident.