Pay our dues

I've been reading about the bird flu, its spread and how we are not equipped to handle a wide outbreak right now. It is funny how an article says "based on historical cycles, humans are DUE for a widespread influenza pandemic".
Its funny how we have scientists working and churning out all these medicines to help us prevent and cure some diseases but then we always have new types of emerging diseases. Its like we're always going to be one ill society, no matter how much we work towards getting better.
Well, it is not as gloomy as it sounds. We do have much better health care now. I mean at least we know the sickness we have, we do try to come up with a solution and we often do. It is a lot better than before.