While the outbreak of avian flu at a turkey farm in the UK does not increase the threat of a human influenza outbreak here, it is a reminder of the need to be vigilant.
According to World Health Organisation guidelines, the level of influenza alert remains at stage three, with the H5N1 virus meeting two of three conditions required for a pandemic: it is a new virus subtype and it infects humans causing serious illness.
However, it has not yet met the third condition, the sustained human to human transmission of the virus.
Of the 270 people known to have been infected worldwide by H5N1, all are thought to have contracted the disease as a result of direct contact with infected birds.
Some 164 of these have died, underlying the extreme virulence of the new microbe and prompting the pandemic influenza expert group in the Republic to draw up a national plan to deal with a potential outbreak.
Poultry workers here are in the front line when it comes to potential exposure to avian flu. As well as using personal protective equipment to prevent them inhaling infected bird droppings, workers have been offered vaccination against the regular, seasonal influenza virus.
Although this will not prevent them developing avian flu, it will minimise the risk of a poultry worker having both the seasonal and avian flu mixing in their system at the same time.
If this were to happen, it opens up the possibility of the H5N1 virus mutating into a new strain and developing the ability to pass easily from human to human.
With no immunity in the population and a time lag of up to six months to produce an effective vaccine, the new strain could spread rapidly.
It must be emphasised that consumers have nothing to fear from eating chicken and turkey, whether sourced in the UK or the Republic.
The H5N1 virus is destroyed by cooking to more than 30 degrees, so it is perfectly safe to eat cooked poultry and eggs without risk of developing bird flu.