The deadly avian flu could reach the United Stated in 6 to 12 months or even sooner, as it is carried by wild migratory birds toward Alaska. Considering migratory patterns, birds will carry the H5N1 virus from West Africa to the Arctic and Alaska this spring. "We have a virus capable of replicating inside humans. We have a virus that humans are not resistant to. We have a virus about which we don't understand everything. It is at this stage of a pandemic alert that we have the luxury of being able to be prepared," stated David Nabarro, a physician at the World Health Organization. Bird flu has rapidly infected Asia and Europe and recently reached Africa. Human cases are not that common, but scientists fear that the virus could mutate into a more dangerous one, transmittable among humans. Nabarro also said that the virus would turn into a pandemic sooner or later, adding: "Because it is moving and because we believe wild birds are implicated, predicting where it's going to flare up next is a very tricky thing to do, and being able to know the scale of the flare-up is also quite tricky." The United States changed their focus from slaughtering and vaccinating domestic poultry to the regional crisis in Africa. Especially in West Africa, 50% of people live with less than $1 a day, many families relying on chickens for food. The U.S. government also plans to test 75,000 to 100,000 live or dead birds, particularly from the Alaskan territory.