As impending electricity hikes and the outbreak of avian flu battle to make the main headlines, the latter is slowly but inexorably beginning to take over the public's mind as the issue which is causing most concern. Now that bird flu has been detected in Greece, it is only a matter of time before Europe, Africa and beyond are hit with something that will certainly decimate many birds, which is also extremely dangerous to humans. The shred-to-pieces lungs of a six-year-old child in Thailand are evidence of how nasty this virus is. Additionally, the virus which has not yet mutated could of course be the worst natural disaster that would affect us for many years to come, something we can’t do much about at this stage.

In this context, full page ads from the Ministry of Health advising us to take the flu jab and keep away from any dead birds found in the countryside, advice on whether we should or shouldn't be ordering Tamiflu would be far more helpful, and is of far far greater importance than detailed workings of the indefatigable minister Gatt, which are really the remit of those entities on the MCESD whose job it is to come to the most equitable solution possible in extremely tight circumstances with little room for manoeuvre.

Malta is one of the migratory routes used by birds possibly infected with avian flu. True that years and years of over hunting here and in other countries have vastly diminished the numbers and species of birds that fly over Malta, but our location, as with the illegal immigrants who are trying to get to Europe will not help us, and is certainly not one to be envied.

Europe is not that prepared but there are now some signs that it is gearing up for action. However, if infected birds make it to Africa, and if North Africa is infected with bird flu, the consequences for Europe and for countries like ours, which are outposts of Europe, would be very serious, if not devastating. Many African countries will not be able to organise themselves in the same way European ones do and if bird flu does mutate with our normal flu into an epidemic that could kill millions, Africa could be where the epidemic starts.

Is Europe going to help the North African countries to be better prepared against bird flu, or is it going to close an eye, as it is doing largely with the illegal immigrants question, and leave individual countries like Malta and Italy to shoulder the burden?

We will then have even worse problems than we already have trying to control and limit the arrival of bird flu on our shores.

The great threat right now however is birds not people. A report in The Malta Independent on Wednesday spoke about 178 species of birds that spend a month or more in a beautiful bird paradise of a national park in Turkey. It is here that they mingle with thousands of domestic chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys and where a case of bird flu has been found. It is true that the fact that our chickens are kept inside is an advantage, which would make any outbreak a little easier to contain.

So while many European countries are concentrating on their domestic fowl, there is almost nothing that can be done to prevent the spread of this killer virus via migratory birds. These birds are now flying out of Turkey and in the words of Benjamin Harvey in last Wednesday's Independent, “will fly across the Middle East and into Africa, crossing some of the worlds least developed and least transparent countries, where outbreaks are likely to be poorly reported, poorly managed, and where close contact between humans and animals will drastically increase the chances of a lethal mutation, experts believe.”

And if bird flu does hit Africa how will Europe deal with illegal immigrants then. Any country that has cases of bird flu, and human casualties particularly, might be sealed off. So if Malta is infected with human bird flu and casualties are reported, we can expect to be isolated from Europe. But how can we stop illegal immigrants bringing the human form in if it hits Africa. Just as we can’t stop the birds flying over and stopping here (I hope hunting is banned by the time this article is published) how can we stop an epidemic arriving here is not by stopping people from entering?

And which Maltese will be asked to deal with infected people once it is so deadly?

It’s very grim. All we can do is sit tight, take our flu jab and hope for the best. I hope though that all European governments will pull their collective finger out, and have Europe as fully prepared as possible. I also strongly urge them to consider how an outbreak in Africa could be contained considering the huge problem of illegal immigration, which is the bane of the whole Mediterranean. Will migration, bird and human, kill millions of us over the next few winters?