As it stands right now the only way humans can get the bird flu is from direct contact with birds. Now the million dollar question is can the virus change so that humans can pass it to each other?
"You've got to get close to these critters to worry about it," said Dr. Larsen, director of the Central Shenandoah Health District.
Larsen says that unless you are in direct contact with bird feces, blood, or breath you're not going to catch the bird flu. The deaths so far have been caused by direct contact.
"When they go to cook a Sunday dinner you go down to Kroger or Food Lion or where ever and buy your meat but they go down to the chicken coop and cut off their head and gut it," said Larsen.
He said that if you cook poultry properly, the disease in the bird will die; but what's still up in the air...whether this strain of the disease can mutate.
"It has not gone from man to man and the chances of that happening are small, and so we're not loosing sleep but we're doing everything we can to prepare," said Larsen.
The goal in the U.S. is to have 20 million cycles of the vaccine ready to go if it does mutate and cause a pandemic. Even if it does, Larsen says the worst case scenario will be many lives lost.
"We know it will not be the end of the world. It'll be the end of the lives of many people, but it will not be the end of the world," said Larsen.
So what can we do now to lessen the potential impact Dr. Larsen says get in the habit of washing your hands for 20 seconds, getting enough sleep, eating right, and exercising.
While the thought of the avian flu might be a new threat to most of us, the poultry industry is all to familiar with it. In 2002 an outbreak hit the Valley and thousands of birds had to be killed. Elanie Lidholm of the Virginia Department of Agriculture says they've stepped up their safety procedures. The farms keep unnecessary traffic off their property. If you are in the poultry houses, you must wear protective clothing.
The farmers have to be concerned about their own health, since they directly deal with the birds and, of course, it's their livelihood on the line.
"The health of those birds are directly related to the health of their pocketbook and so they want to do everything to keep out any disease," said Lidholm.

For the latest on the avian flu, click here
www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm