Robert Webster (84) said the notion of ''bird flu'' started as a joke while he was walking on a NSW beach in 1961 with fellow virologist Graeme Laver.
''We came across a beach littered with dead muttonbirds ... We decided more as a joke that flu had killed them because we knew there had been an outbreak of dead seabirds off South Africa.''
At a public lecture at the University of Otago tonight, Prof Webster will discuss how the discovery of influenza in muttonbirds contributed to understanding the origins of influenza viruses and the formation of the first antiviral drugs.
The Balclutha-born University of Otago graduate said bird flu had been his ''life's work''.
His understanding of bird flu meant he had been involved with research into the cause of other animal-borne diseases including Sars and Zika.
Zika virus posed a ''real threat'' to the world, Prof Webster said.
''This is one that has to be really watched. We have never had a virus in that class that can be sexually transmitted before.''
Prof Webster's research into infectious diseases had put him on the front line of health epidemics.
''I went to Hong Kong at the peak of Sars. Hong Kong was a total mess. The fear was palpable, people were terrified.''
In 1997, he vaccinated himself against bird flu (H5N1) by dropping the inactivated virus up his nose so he could enter the poultry markets of Hong Kong where millions of chickens were thought to be infected with the deadly disease.
Based at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, Prof Webster and his expertise on infectious diseases were still called upon during health epidemics.
This year, he was asked to sign a document opposing the Rio Olympics because of the Zika virus.
''I didn't sign it because it was winter. There were no cases.''
As well as talking about his own work on infectious diseases, he would also discuss the need for more influenza drugs at tonight's lecture.
Lecture: University of Otago, Archway 1, 5.30pm.
