Cattlemen contact anthrax from time to time.  Die once in a while.  We don't worry about cattle leaping tall buildings and swimming the oceans just to bring us the dreaded anthrax.  Anthrax is in the soil in every one of our yards.

The bird flu virus is the same.  It is not from some mysterious place, lurking in the shadows waiting to leap out on the least suspecting person.  The bird flu virus was isolated many decades ago.  It has always been in bird populations all around the globe.  Just like any other disease, it attacks the weak.  People contract bird flu just like people contract anthrax, too much exposure to diseased areas or animals.

Natural anthrax cannot cause wide spread problems, but manipulated anthrax is a potent weapon.

Natural bird flu cannot cause wide spread problems,...............

It is preposterous to predict any particular virus will mutate.  We've never seen it in nature with any virus, have never once predicted a virus will naturally mutate, but for some reason people seem to believe the un-scientific bull they're being fed about the magical and mysterious bird flu.

There is no natural bird flu epidemic.  An epidemic of bird flu may come, but if it does it will come the same way an anthrax epidemic would, through a non-natural act.

No, it did not start there.  It is just easier to scare people if a threat comes from a place far, far away.