142 million deaths possible from bird flu
And a $4.4 trillion blow to the world economy.
In the worst scenario, it said the death toll could reach 28.4 million in China, 24 million in India, 11.4 million in Indonesia, 4.1 million in the Philippines, 2.1 million in Japan, 2.0 million in the United States and 5.6 million in Europe. In the world's least developed countries, the toll could top 33 million.
The study's figure of 142 million possible deaths is similar to an earlier estimate of 150 million deaths by World Health Organization senior official David Nabarro, when he was named as head of the United Nations avian flu response team in September last year.
The Lowy Institute study found that East Asian economies would be proportionately more affected than the United States or Europe. In the "ultra" or worst-case scenario, Hong Kong's economy, for example, would shrink by more than 53 percent.
"This is clearly a major economic catastrophe," the report's authors note.
"The large scale collapse of Asia causes global trade flows to dry up and capital to flow to safe havens in North America and Europe."
CNN
Personally I think the "worst case" could be even more horrific than this.