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The current outbreak of H5N1 avian flu has been spreading to a variety of bird species, including ducks, chickens, magpies, crows, pigeons, and gulls. Today more birds have dangerous forms of avian flu than at any time in recorded history. H5N1 also has jumped to many species of mammals, including mice, tigers, cats and dogs. Recent events in Indonesia suggest the flu has mutated to jump from birds to humans with greater ease. Humans have picked up the flu—and died—simply from visiting birds in the zoo, most likely through pulverized feces in the air. As of early November, over sixty individuals have died of avian flu, all in Southeast Asia and mostly in Vietnam. The remaining question is whether the flu will evolve to allow for easy human-to-human transmission. Some family-based case clusters in Indonesia suggest that human-to-human transmission may be occurring, although not with great ease. This “reservoir” of avian flu in birds and other animals is not going away soon. Most likely it will be with us for at least ten years and it will continue to spread. We will face the ongoing possibility of a dangerous mutation, allowing for easy human-to-human transmission and thus a pandemic.