Thirty epizootics of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) or fowl plague have occurred in poultry and other birds in the world since influenza virus was discovered to be the etiological agent of the disease in 1955 [1]. The largest epizootic of the past 50 years was the H5N1 panzootic, which began in the Guangdong province of southern China in 1996 and has since spread to affect 63 countri...