We’re talking worldwide impact here. The ability of one set of letters and numbers that looks like it might be just another algebra equation to equal another set of letters and numbers that have already proven they’ve got staying power.

If you’ve been anywhere near the news in the past decade-and-a-half, you know what 0157:H7 is. It’s the deeply dreaded E. coli virus that’s deadly to small children and old folks. It was responsible for the deaths of just a few but its effect on the beef business was enormous.

It can be eliminated by the judicious application of heat. Cook that burger until it’s medium, preferably medium-well done and the problem is gone.

Now H5N1 is another matter. It’s bird flu, a disease that was once the rare and exclusive domain of chickens. In Southeast Asia, it has become a common disease among poultry flocks and it has taken a frightening leap to humans. So far, it’s been rare but staggeringly deadly and human-to-human transfer has reportedly happened only once. Reports from Viet Nam indicate about a 75% fatality rate once it infects a person, an unacceptably high number, especially if it starts to become pandemic.

The problem is conditions on rural Southeast Asian farms are often unsanitary with poultry packed beak-by-jowl with other kinds of livestock. The World Health Organization warns these conditions are ripe for the development of a pandemic that could kill millions if the virus mutates into a form capable of easily spreading among humans.

Last year, Thailand was the center of the AI outbreak. Thai officials acted quickly and essentially depopulated the country’s poultry population, a drastic campaign that was supposed to stop the spread of a disease that hit nine Asian countries.

The mass culling of birds, however, did not stop the spreading virus.

Farmers quickly restocked without changing their habits. Poultry, pigs and fish are still grown side-by-side as a poverty-stricken rural population struggles to make a living. Making matters worse, the Thai government’s agricultural officials, seriously understaffed, lack the manpower to enforce proper animal handling practices.

To stop the spread of the disease among flocks, farmers can require that workers disinfect shoes, change clothing and spray their trucks and carts before entering a poultry farm. They can also ban outsiders from sheds, keep species segregated and keep egg trays and cages clean. Easy enough, but not often done by most of the undermanned, primitive Southeast Asian farming operations.

What will happen if the virus makes the jump to the human population? WHO officials say at least 2 million and maybe as many as 7 million people would die worldwide and those are their most optimistic numbers. In a less cautiously optimistic frame of mind, they say the toll could reach 100 million, a frightening number made possible by the ease of modern travel and its concurrent and “uncheckable” ability to spread disease quickly. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, when transportation was much more limited, killed 40 million people in just over one year.

Taking it very seriously, Tommy Thompson, former U.S. secretary of heath and human services, said the potential death toll of a fast-spreading avian flu was his greatest health fear. He called it a "really huge bomb" during his farewell speech, a comment that drew some flak from people who thought he went too far with a gloom and doom scenario. I don’t think he went far enough. The potential threat is still generally unacknowledged by most worldwide health officials and the media.

In a comment to a Washington Post reporter, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said, "It's clear that Southeast Asia poses the greatest risk today of a new virus unfolding and coming forward as a pandemic strain. Darwin could not have created a more efficient re-assortment laboratory if he tried."

Osterholm, recognized as one of the best minds in the business, was referring to the rural farms that are virtual fecal soup-driven bacteriological laboratories in the area – thousands of animals of various species grown side-by-side under unsanitary conditions in a hot, humid environment. The odds that a relatively mild bacteria or virus could mutate and explode with deadly international consequences are unacceptably high.

Doing the math, the potential of A.I. to become lethal on a worldwide scope is more than just H5N1 = 0157:H7. The death toll could explode geometrically and it could happen very quickly. Right now, the governments of the southeast Asian countries where the problem exists are ill-equipped to stop the spread of the disease among their rapidly expanding flocks. The governments and health organizations around the world are just as ill-equipped to stop the disease if it makes the jump to the human population.

It’s past time that the threat was met head on. If the West continues to look toward underdeveloped Asian countries as a resource for cheap food, immediate steps must be taken to bring their agricultural practices into the twenty-first century. And the bill for this must be paid by the more developed North American and European countries.

The agrarian population and available agricultural land in developed countries has been greatly reduced in the past 50 years. Even with major advances in productivity, the need for enough active farmland to feed our growing populations will soon outstrip supply. In the coming decade, Asia will become the new American West, a land filled with vast farms and ranches, supplying grain and protein to the world. We must make sure the supply is safe.

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Chuck Jolley is a marketing executive who's been associated with the food industry for over 25 years. He's helped develop advertising and public relations programs for Cryovac, the world's largest flexible packaging company, and published MEAT&POULTRY, the leading trade magazine in the meat and poultry industry. He's worked with major companies in the meat, poultry, seafood, baking, dairy and fresh produce industries.Contact: crjolley@msn.com