ABC-tv movie May 9 Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America

April 19, 2006

" Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America " May 9th

The movie follows Avian Flu through its mutation into a virus

transmittable from human to human.

On Tuesday, May 9 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET), ABC will bring to television

a two-hour original movie. " Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America "

follows an outbreak of an Avian Flu from its origins in a Hong Kong

market through its mutation into a virus transmittable from human to

human around the world.

The meticulously researched film stars y ( " Nip/Tuck " ),

Keach ( " Prison Break, " " Blackbeard " ), Ann Cusack ( " Grey's

Anatomy, " " Ghost Whisperer " ), a Machado ( " Six Feet Under " ),

Cohen ( " Street Time, " " Law & Order: Trial by Jury " ) and

Ramsey ( " All of Us " ).

The movie opens with an American businessman flying to Hong Kong to

meet with his Asian manufacturers. After 11 meetings in three

countries in six days, he starts his return to Virginia. But before

he returns home, the Chinese government has informed the World Health

Organization that a new strain of the Avian Flu virus was discovered

in a local marketplace. Over 1.2 million infected birds were killed

in an attempt to eradicate this strain. Dr. Iris Varnack ()

of the Epidemic Intelligence Service receives an emergency summons to

China, where she discovers these efforts may have come too late.

Despite the early warning, the H5N1 virus has mutated into a version

that can spread from human to human -- shown in eye-opening detail

whenever the microbes start to permeate the atmosphere - across

races, nationalities, genders and ages.

M. Barry, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Tulane University

and writer of the New York Times bestseller, " The Great Influenza:

The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, " served as a

consultant on the project. Barry's book, which includes a new

afterword on today's Avian Flu, focuses on the 1918 Spanish Flu which

killed between 50-100 million people.

The film deals with the current threat of the Avian Flu virus (H5N1).

Scientists continue to debate the degree to which the virus can

mutate and be easily passed among human beings.

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