Risk assessment

With avian flu resurgent in Thailand and Indonesia, and reappearing in Germany, Effect Measure gives us a concise assessment of where things now stand:

...the bird flu situation much the same as before, despite news reports the danger is waning. No one knows the actual risk but whatever it is, it either hasn't changed or has increased. Nothing is different than a year ago, or two years ago or three years ago, except that on the plus side a pandemic strain has yet to emerge and on the minus side the virus now happily resides in more places, more ecological niches, more species and has killed more and more humans.

Meanwhile, could cats be the bird flu equivalent of the canary in the coal mine?