|
Sat Dec 1, 12:27 PM ET Two poultry farms north-west of Warsaw were cordoned off after the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was found in turkeys, Polish officials said on Saturday. (POLAND) |
Sat Dec 1, 1:45 PM ET Free range ducks in the Mekong province of Kien Giang. The representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Viet Nam, Jeff Gilbert, said ducks had become vital in the fight against bird flu since it was confirmed that they could be infected with H5N1 bird flu without showing any symptoms of the disease. (FAO) (VIETNAM)
Experts say monitoring free-range ducks will help prevent bird flu |
|
Sat Dec 1, 2:22 PM ET Willows Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, 41 Rickel Road, Sun Prairie, is one of two facilities listed as among the worst nursing homes in Wisconsin by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Medical News) |
Sat Dec 1, 3:34 PM ET Every year, December 1 is observed as World AIDS day to raise awareness about the HIV pandemic. (US)
December 1 - World AIDS Day
In May of 2003, President George W. Bush signed a $15 billion AIDS initiative and this year, announced his proposal to double the initial commitment. |
|
Sat Dec 1, 5:04 PM ET Some 178 species in the continental U.S. and 39 in Hawaii appear on the WatchList 2007, which the groups say is one of the most comprehensive analyses of national bird data in the past five years. The report blames habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, and global warming for the species decline. (US) |
Sat Dec 1, 6:13 PM ET Parts of this hundred-million-year-old dinosaur, photographed on July 3, 2007, were crushed into powder by villagers in China's central Shaping village for use in an elixir. Chinese peasants are increasingly digging up valuable dinosaur fossils in a bid to escape poverty, experts say. Photograph by Donald Chan/Reuters (CHINA) |
|
Sat Dec 1, 7:46 PM ET BEIRUT: Two new awareness campaigns were launched in Lebanon on Thursday, with the Health Ministry warning against the possible spread of hepatitis A and the hospitals association sounding the alarm on avian influenza (or bird flu). (LEBANON)
Medical establishment signals risks from hepatitis A, bird flu - Lebanon
|
Sat Dec 1, 11:46 PM ET A man sorts eggs at a market in Dhaka March 23, 2007. Bangladesh said on Thursday the H5N1 bird flu virus had been detected in poultry near the capital Dhaka. Bird flu has spread to another district in northwestern Bangladesh, forcing health and veterinary workers to cull some 6,000 chickens and destroy over 2,500 eggs, officials said on Saturday. (BANGLADESH) |
|
Sunday, December 2, 2007 12:30 AM EST Makenzie Killough, 5, from Attleboro, waits for a shot with mom Cathy Makenzie. (Staff photo by TOM MAGUIRE) (MA) (PANDEMIC FLU) |
Reuters - Mon Dec 3, 4:11 AM ET A staff member from the local quarantine administration disinfects a poultry market in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, December 3, 2007. A 24-year-old man from eastern China has died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the first case in the country since June, bringing the death toll from the disease to 17. REUTERS/Sean Yong (CHINA) |
|
Reuters - Tue Dec 4, 5:15 AM ET A foreign worker, wearing protective gear, collects pigeons at a domestic farm in Riyadh December 4, 2007. The World Health Organization has been closely monitoring the bird flu outbreak in Saudi Arabia and the country's readiness to fight the disease, a senior WHO official said yesterday. REUTERS/Stringer (SAUDI ARABIA) |
AFP/File - Tue Dec 4, 12:13 PM ET A farmer unloading chickens at a local poultry market in the northern Vietnamese province of Ha Tay, March 2007. The global cost of a possible bird flu pandemic could be up to two trillion dollars, a top World Bank official said Tuesday.(AFP/File) (PANDEMIC FLU) |
|
Wed Dec 5, 12:09:36 AM ET The convenor of an international medical conference says there is evidence that potentially lethal bird flu is being passed from person to person. (PANDEMIC FLU)
Conference hears of bird flu person-to-person infection
A total of 1,600 doctors and scientists from 42 countries have attended a lung disease conference on Queensland's Gold Coast. |
Reuters - Wed Dec 5, 4:06 AM ET Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates (L) shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh before their meeting in New Delhi December 1, 2007. India needs more funding to deal with the 'massive threat' of bird flu, Singh told a conference of international bird flu experts in the Indian capital on Wednesday. (Reuters) (INDIA) |
|
Wed Dec 5, 11:16:36 PM ET Vietnam has planned to import vaccines against bird flu virus strains H7N3 and H7N8 to prevent potential outbreaks among fowls, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Wednesday. (VACCINES) (VIETNAM)
Vietnam to import vaccines against bird flu virus strains H7N3, H7N8
H5N1 outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, leading to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country. |
Thu Dec 6, 1:44 AM ET NZPA- The Government has purchased enough bird-flu vaccine for nearly 100,000 front-line personnel and have orders in for the rest of the country, should it be needed. (NEW ZEALAND) Health Minister David Cunliffe said the H5N1 vaccine would be given to 60,000 health personnel, 10,000 fire service emergency staff, 7000 police, 6000 defence personnel 2000 border controllers and 2300 NZ-based international aircrew. |
|
Thu Dec 6, 2:13 AM ET Municipal officials are calling on residents in Riyadh to dump homegrown live birds and eggs at five locations in Riyadh as part of renewed efforts to contain the spread of bird flu in the region. "We have so far received over 10,000 live birds, mostly chickens... No poultry shop is now allowed to sell live birds in the city," he said. (SAUDI ARABIA)
Fresh Efforts to Contain Bird Flu Saudi Arabia
So far, more than four million chickens and other birds have been culled since the disease was first detected at a farm in Al-Kharj last month. |
Fri Dec 7, 1:57 AM ET A team of veterinary experts remove poultry from a farm following an outbreak of bird flu in northeastern India , July 2007. International donors have committed more than 400 million dollars to fight bird flu in an "encouraging" step but more funds are still needed, a top World Bank official said.(INDIA) |
|
Fri Dec 7, 6:50 PM ET Chickens feed in rural Yunyang, a town along the Yangtze River's Three Gorges Dam downriver from Chongqing in southwest China, November 2007. The World Health Organisation has said that two members of the same Chinese family had contracted bird flu, sparking fears of a possible human-to-human transmission of the deadly H5N1 virus. (AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown) (CHINA) (WHO) (PANDEMIC FLU) |
Fri Dec 7, 6:52 AM ET Chickens are seen at a hennery October 6, 2007. Benin has discovered two outbreaks of bird flu among poultry which it believes to be the deadly H5N1 strain, the first such cases in the West African country, a senior health official said on Friday. (BENIN)
Benin finds two bird flu outbreaks, suspects H5N1 |
|
Sat Dec 7, 7:08 AM ET Christine Kosmos, deputy commissioner of the Chicago Dept. of Public Health (center), Leslee Stein-Spencer (right) of the Chicago Fire Dept. and members of five city departments watch a mock exercise of an avian flu pandemic unfold on their computer screens. (Tribune photo by Chuck Berman ) (PANDEMIC FLU) Pandemic drill puts city, businesses to test - Chicago |
Sat Dec 8, 9:11 PM ET Poland confirmed its first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, in two wild swans, March 6 2006. The problem is the farm on which the virus was found is a big one, tens of thousands of birds. (POLAND)
Fourth H5N1 bird flu centre found in Poland
WARSAW - A FOURTH centre of H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in central Poland, about 50km from three sites found last week, chief veterinary officer Ewa Lech said on Saturday. |
|
Sat Dec 8, 9:28 PM ET Over 20 camels have perished in Yanbu after eating contaminated fodder. (SAUDI ARABIA)
Camel Deaths Alarm Yanbu Livestock Owners
YANBU, Over 20 camels have died in Yanbu recently after eating contaminated fodder, said livestock owners. They complained that the Ministry of Agriculture has failed to deploy vets to deal with the problem. |
Sun, 09 Dec 2007 6:27 AM PS The United States is increasing funding to help Bangladesh fight bird flu, saying the densely populated country is at high risk of pandemic if the virus jumped to humans, a top U.S. aid official said on Sunday. (USAID)
Bangladesh at high risk from deadly bird flu - USAID
Bird flu was first detected near the capital in March and has since spread mostly to northern districts and forced authorities to cull 274,000 chickens and destroy nearly 3 million eggs. |
|
Mon Dec 10, 1:58 AM ET A child plays near chickens at a poultry market in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, December 8, 2007. China's health authorities said here on Monday that no human-to-human transmission had been confirmed in the two human cases of bird flu and the means of transmission in these cases, involving two family members in the Nanjing area, remained unknown. (CHINA)
No human-to-human transmission in new bird flu cases - China |
Mon Dec 10, 5:34 AM ET Brits will still be alright for their Christmas turkey this year despite the bird flu outbreaks. (UK)
Plenty of turkey for Brits this Christmas despite bird flu
The British Poultry Council says there is no problem in sourcing the 10 million turkeys which will be eaten by the public this Christmas and even though the price of a turkey has risen by as much as 20 per cent this year industry experts say the increase has nothing to do with bird flu but rather to the 200 per cent increase in feed costs in the last two years.
The wider surveillance and restriction zones imposed following the outbreak are due to be lifted on the 19th of December but for the time being other restrictions on bird gatherings and movements of poultry and poultry meat remain in place.
To date millions of birds worldwide have either died from the H5N1 strain or been culled to prevent the spread of the disease. |
|
Mon Dec 10, 3:29 PM ET The GE Healthcare unit of General Electric Co and Novavax Inc. on Monday said they will collaborate to develop a system to manufacture pandemic flu vaccine that will be far speedier and less costly than standard techniques. (VACCINE)
GE, Novavax team up on pandemic flu vaccine
Novavax, a tiny U.S. biotechnology company, is already conducting early stage trials of its H5N1 pandemic flu vaccine, using the company's so-called virus-like particle (VLP) technology to quickly produce the vaccine in a cell culture, growing cells in an artificial medium. Traditional vaccines, by contrast, typically are manufactured in chicken eggs through a time-consuming process |
Mon Dec 10, 5:52 PM ET Ahead of the Eid-el Kabir and Yuletide celebrations which are characterized by increase in poultry consumption, officials of the National Avian Influenza Control programme in Yobe State have begun the fumigation of poultry markets, stores and cages with the aim of reducing the chances of spreading avian influenza virus and associated diseases. (NIGERIA) |
|
Mon Dec 10, 10:43 PM ET A fireman pours disinfecting liquid on the road of a checkpoint 3 km (1.9 mile) before Karniszyn, about 130 km (81 miles) from Warsaw, where the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was discovered at a poultry farm, December 10, 2007. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel (POLAND) |
Tue Dec 11, 12:15 AM ET An Indonesian woman who sold ornamental plants has died here with officials suspecting she may be the nation's 92nd bird flu death, an official from the agriculture ministry said Tuesday. (INDONESIA)
Indonesian plant seller suspected of bird flu death: ministry |
|
Tue Dec 11, 7:41 AM ET A vendor works at a poultry market in Nanjing, eastern China's Jiangsu province, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007. China has said the possibilities of bird flu outbreaks in many parts of the country is "very high" in the winter and spring despite efforts to contain the disease. (CHINA) |
Tue Dec 11, 9:40 AM ET Chickens are displayed for sale at a chicken store in Seoul January 20, 2007. South Korea said ducks at a poultry farm tested positive for an antibody to a bird flu virus, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday. (You Sung-Ho/Reuters) (SOUTH KOREA) |
|
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:52 AM PST A Russian veterinary official inoculates a chicken against the bird flu virus. Nearly 35,000 chickens have died in southern Russia after being infected by the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, the emergency situations ministry said on Tuesday. (RUSSIA)
35,000 chickens die from bird flu in Russia: ministry |
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 7:15 PM PST (CIDRAP News) - Scientists say they have found three distinct variants of H5N1 avian influenza virus in wild birds in Germany, two of which might have been brought in by wild birds migrating from Russia. (GERMANY)
Study says 3 H5N1 variants reached Germany
Researchers from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Insel Riems, Germany, analyzed 27 H5N1 isolates collected mostly from wild birds in widely scattered locations in Germany in 2006 and this year.
Writing in the journal Veterinary Microbiology, they say the findings suggest that the virus was brought into the country on three separate occasions, two of them in early 2006 and the third in 2007.
The researchers collected 27 H5N1 viruses from 17 species of wild birds, the turkey farm, one stray cat, and the stone marten, the report says.
|
|
Wed Dec 12, 4:54 AM ET A worker is seen selecting chickens before sending them to the market from a poultry storehouse in Jakarta in this January 14, 2007 file photo. A Indonesian man from an area west of the capital has tested positive for bird flu and is being treated at a hospital in Jakarta, a health ministry official said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Supri/Files (INDONESIA) |
Wed Dec 12, 5:32 AM ET The City Council will vote Wednesday on a proposal to ban chickens, a former barnyard denizen that is pecking its way into cities across the country as part of a growing organic food trend among young professionals and other urban dwellers. (CHICAGO) |
|
Wed Dec 12, 6:43 AM ET A fireman in protective suit prepares disinfecting liquid at a checkpoint 3 km (1.9 mile) before Karniszyn, about 130 km (81 miles) from Warsaw, where the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was discovered at a poultry farm, December 10, 2007. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel (POLAND) |
Wed Dec 12, 8:49 AM ET A security guard wearing a face mask keeps watch at a poultry market closed for business in Moscow February 19, 2007. About 500,000 chickens will be culled at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where 35,000 birds have died from bird flu since late November, a source in the local emergencies service said on Wednesday. (RUSSIA) |
|
Wed Dec 12, 9:35 AM ET There have been 208 human deaths globally from the H5N1 strain and 338 confirmed cases of infection since 2003, according to World Health Organisation data. Here is a chronology of major recent bird flu developments. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
CHRONOLOGY - Bird flu developments
There have been 208 human deaths globally from the H5N1 strain and 338 confirmed cases of infection since 2003, according to World Health Organisation data. |
Wed Dec 12, 12:55 PM ET The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in two new sites in Poland on Wednesday, an official said. (POLAND) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
H5N1 bird flu new sites found in Poland |
|
WBOC Salisbury - Dec 12 7:39 PM Delmarva chicken companies say they have begun vaccinating for a contagious chicken disease commonly called "LT." Jay Baxter, a Mountaire grower in Georgetown, said that about 2,000 of his birds have died from a virus known as laryngotracheitis in the past few days. (VACCINES) |
Wed Dec 12, 9:58 PM ET The program, called the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), is a response to concern about diseases like avian influenza, more commonly known as "bird flu," and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow disease." (NAIS) |
|
Thu Dec 13, 7:07 AM ET A military command in eastern China has banned poultry purchases in the wake of a human bird flu case in the area, an official said Thursday. (CHINA)
Chinese military-controlled region bans poultry purchases in wake of bird flu case
"We have already had a meeting for all staff including those who have retired to notify us of the human bird flu case," said a man who answered the telephone at the region's administrative bureau. "We were also told not to purchase poultry products." He refused to give his name or any other details, a standard practice among officials when dealing with sensitive issues, especially in the secretive military. |
Thu Dec 13, 7:24 AM ET VietNamNet Bridge - The H5N1 "bird flu" virus has reappeared in the northern province of Bac Giang and southern province of Tra Vinh, reported animal health officials in a meeting of the National Commision for Bird Flu Prevention yesterday. Relating to the H7N3 discovered in Republic of Korea and Canada, Animal Health Department Head Bui Quang Anh said the virus was a very dangerous type of bird flu which can be transmitted to humans and one veterinarian in Holland was killed by the virus. (VIETNAM) Bird flu revives in Vietnam |
|
hu Dec 13, 8:30 AM ET Vancouver Province. In a scene that could become common in B.C. in the event of a flu pandemic, a security guard uses a medical monitor to check the body temperature of a customer entering a Shanghai office complex during the 2003 SARS outbreak. (CANADA)
Preparing for flu pandemic - Workers in key B.C. industries believe one on the way
Up to 54 per cent of the three million workers in the "business continuity industries" could be too spooked to go to work if the flu pandemic infects even a few people in their city, said the survey sponsored by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
The continuity industries include utilities, telecommunications, transportation and warehousing, banking and public administration. |
Thu Dec 13, 10:14 AM ET A. Townsend Peterson, University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and senior curator in the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, directs teams of scientists who travel from Kansas to far-flung corners of the globe to map the spread of avian flu and other pathogens. (RESEARCH)
University of Kansas Researcher Doubts U.S. Program to Track Avian Flu in Wild Birds |
|
Thu Dec 13, 3:44 PM ET Slaughtered chickens are displayed in a local market in Surabaya, east Java province, March 29, 2007. An Indonesian man from an area west of the capital Jakarta died from bird flu on Thursday, an official said, bringing the total number of deaths in from the illness in Indonesia to 93. REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas (INDONESIA) |
Fri Dec 14, 3:00 AM ET Hong Kong has ordered its famed Mai Po bird sanctuary to close to visitors for three weeks starting Friday after a gray heron found nearby tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. (HONG KONG) |
|
Fri Dec 14, 3:44 AM ET Residents display poultry, which will be culled, after collecting them from a residential area in central Jakarta, January 29, 2007. Hungary has offered loans to Indonesia to build a plant to develop and produce a birdflu vaccine for humans using Indonesia's H5N1 avian flu virus strain, a senior industry ministry official said on Friday. (Dadang Tri/Reuters) (HUNGARY) (INDONESIA) (VACCINES) |
Fri Dec 14, 5:40 AM ET PESHAWAR: The administration of Khyber Teaching Hospital on Thursday confirmed that two brothers Mohammad Ilyas and Tariq, who were brought to the hospital from Mansehra on suspicion of carrying H5N1, died of bird flu Monday last. (PAKISTAN)
Bird flu claims first two lives in Pakistan
"The two brothers have been confirmed as bird flu victims and are the first human sufferers of the disease in our country," Dr Siddiqur Rahman, Acting Chief Executive of KTH, told media on Thursday. |
|
Fri Dec 14, 7:22 AM ET An Indonesian volunteer, whose hand is partly seen on right, administers a vaccination to a chicken in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, in this Aug. 27, 2007 file photo. Bird flu has resurfaced in parts of Asia, with human deaths reported in Indonesia and China and fresh poultry outbreaks plaguing other countries during the winter months when the virus typically flares. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
Fri Dec 14, 8:00 AM ET The latest reports contradict earlier claims by a health official at a hospital in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, who erroneously said the two victims had worked on a poultry farm and died earlier this month. He also did not have any information about the two brothers who survived. The brother who lives in the United States but was visiting Manshera at the time also tested positive for bird flu, but survived and has since returned to the US, Akhtar told dpa. (PAKISTAN)
Pakistan may have had human-to-human bird flu transmission - Summary
A third brother who lives in the United States but was visiting Manshera at the time also tested positive for bird flu, but survived and has since returned to the US, Akhtar told dpa |
|
Sat Dec 15, 1:59 AM ET A man carries skinned chickens at a poultry market on the outskirts of Yangon. A seven-year-old Myanmar girl has become the military-run country's first confirmed human case of bird flu, an official and the WHO said Saturday. (AFP/File/Khin Maung Win) (MYANMAR) |
Sat Dec 15, 10:08 AM ET A rural area north of Berlin has been placed under quarantine after a new outbreak of bird flu led to the deaths of 11 chickens, authorities said Saturday.Following the positive tests, officials sealed off an area covering a radius of three kilometres in the Oberhavel region of Brandenburg, the state which surrounds the German capital. (GERMANY)
New outbreak of bird flu reported in Germany
Farmers and pet owners were told to keep their animals indoors until the danger had passed. It was the first outbreak of bird flu in the region after a series of false-alarms in the past. |
|
Sat Dec 15, 10:48 AM ET Saudi Arabia's agriculture ministry has ordered 13,500 ostriches to be destroyed following a new outbreak of bird flu in the kingdom, the Al-Watan newspaper has reported. (AFP/File/Simon Maina) (SAUDI ARABIA) Saudi culls 13,500 ostriches amid new bird flu outbreak |
Sat Dec 15, 1:21 PM ET Pakistani brothers Mohammed Ishtiaq, right, and Mohammed Tariq, left, who were treated for suspected H5N1 bird flu, come out from their house in Sukur village near Peshawar, Pakistan on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007. Six people caught H5N1 bird flu in northern Pakistan last month and at least one person with the disease has died, the government said Saturday. The U.N. World Health Organization confirmed the deadly H5N1 strain was found in the six cases, but said a second round of tests were being carried out to make sure. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zubair) (PAKISTAN) |
|
Sat Dec 15, 10:49 AM ET A chicken vendor sits at his stand at a market. The west African country of Benin confirmed bird flu outbreaks at two suspect southern sites, where more than 240 chickens were culled and burnt this week. (AFP/File/Kambou Sia) (BENIN) |
Sun Dec 16, 4:43 AM ET A Pakistani poultry worker feeds chickens on a farm on the outskirts of Karachi in April 2007. The World Health Organisation (WHO) praised Asian countries for swiftly reporting the latest bird flu cases after Pakistan and Myanmar were hit by a resurgence of the disease. (AFP/File/Asif Hassan ) (WHO) WHO praises swift bird flu reporting |
|
Sun. Dec. 16 2007 8:34 AM ET International health experts have been dispatched to Pakistan to help investigate the cause of South Asia's first outbreak of bird flu in people and determine if the virus could have been transmitted through human contact, officials said Sunday. A team from the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit in Cairo was being dispatched to Pakistan to help with the investigation. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (PAKISTAN) Human transmission feared in Pakistan bird flu case |
Mon Dec 17, 1:07 AM ET Over half of influenza patients in Japan showing abnormal behaviour had taken the drug Tamiflu, but it is not clear if there was a causal link between the drug and their actions, a government report showed on Monday. (Medical News) (JAPAN)
Tamiflu, erratic behaviour link probed
Japan is investigating whether there is any link between Tamiflu, made by Roche Holding AG , and neuropsychiatric problems after more than 100 people, mostly young, showed erratic behaviour such as jumping from buildings after taking the drug. |
|
Mon Dec 17, 3:06 AM ET FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants not only big poultry producers like Tyson Foods but also the small farmers and hobbyists to guard against the spread of disease among flocks. (USDA) (AK)
USDA wants chicken farmers in Arkansas, elsewhere to take precautions |
Mon Dec 17, 5:24 AM ET Two outbreaks of bird flu among poultry in Benin are the deadly H5N1 strain. In a statement late on Sunday, Minister Robert Dovonou said test results from a laboratory in Italy confirmed the group A and type H5N1 flu virus. (BENIN)
Benin confirms H5N1 virus in two bird flu cases
|
|
Mon Dec 17, 8:24 AM ET Hospital staff clean and disinfect a room in an isolation ward where a bird flu patient was treated, at the Ayuab Medical Complex, in Abbotabad, Pakistan Monday Dec. 17, 2007. The last two bird flu patients were discharged from the hospital Sunday. International health experts were investigating Pakistan's first outbreak of bird flu in people to determine if the virus was transmitted through human-to-human contact, officials said Monday.(AP Photo/Greg Baker) (WHO) (PAKISTAN) |
Mon Dec 17, 11:35 AM ET The Saudi agriculture ministry announced on Monday that it has ordered a further 22,500 ostriches culled following the confirmation of a new outbreak of bird flu in the desert kingdom. (SAUDI ARABIA)
Saudi Arabia orders new bird flu cull |
|
Mon Dec 17, 9:41 AM ET Week-old chicks are seen at a poultry farm near another farm which was infected with bird flu, in Abbotabad, Pakistan Monday Dec. 17, 2007. After at least 1200 birds were culled at the neighboring farm, the owners of the unaffected farm sold their birds, disinfected their coop and bought new chicks in an effort to reduce the risk of an outbreak on their farm. International health experts were investigating Pakistan's first outbreak of bird flu in people to determine if the virus was transmitted through human-to-human contact, officials said Monday.(AP Photo/Greg Baker) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (PAKISTAN) (WHO) |
Mon Dec 17, 4:35 PM ET A hospital staff member wearing protective clothing removes equipment from a room in an isolation ward where a bird flu patient was treated, at the Ayuab Medical Complex, in Abbotabad, Pakistan Monday Dec. 17, 2007. The ward was being disinfected Monday, a day after the last two bird flu patients were discharged from the hospital. International health experts were investigating Pakistan's first outbreak of bird flu in people to determine if the virus was transmitted through human-to-human contact, officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (PAKISTAN) (WHO) |
|
Mon Dec 17,8:35 PM ET A staff member of the local quarantine administration prepares to spray chickens with disinfectant at a poultry market in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, December 12, 2007. China has warned of a "very high" possibility of outbreaks of bird flu over winter and spring as the country hunts for the causal link between a son and a father struck by the virus, state media said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Sean Yong. (POLAND) |
Tue Dec 18, 2:52 AM ET A poultry farm with chickens infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu is seen on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, May 22, 2007. Pakistani authorities and World Health Organisation (WHO) experts were trying to determine on Tuesday whether bird flu had passed from human to human after the country reported its first human death from the virus. (PAKISTAN) |
|
Tue Dec 18, 3:04 AM ET "It probably is just a matter of time before we get that more virulent strain. It's still spreading," said Tom Gehring, a Central Michigan associate professor of wildlife biology and Lickfett's faculty adviser. "How it'll get here, we don't know whether through wild birds or domestic poultry. But if Todd's approach works, it's going to give us a better, cheaper monitoring tool to tell us when it does. (RESEARCH) |
Tue Dec 18, 6:31 AM ET An officer from National Commision for Bird Flu gives information to the public during a bird flu handling simulation in Tangerang, outside Jakarta, December 12. Indonesian bird flu officials said they were investigating several recent avian influenza deaths where the victims were believed to have not come into contact with infected poultry.(AFP/File/Ferbian Pradolo) (NAIC) (NCBF) |
|
Tue Dec 18, 8:04 PM ET A file photo shows volunteers running through a decontamination shower at Miami's Pro Player Stadium during a simulated terrorist attack. The United States remains unprepared for disasters ranging from biological attacks to a flu pandemic, and funding for preparedness is falling, according to a report released on Tuesday. (Marc Serota/Reuters) (PANDEMIC FLU) |
Tue Dec 18, 11:57 AM ET An immigration officer (R) wears a protective mask while keeping watching over mock patients infected with the H5N1 virus, during a drill on dealing with bird flu, at the Noi Bai airport in Hanoi December 18, 2007. REUTERS/Kham (VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) Vietnam conducts anti-bird flu rehearsal |
|
Wed Dec 19, 4:36 AM ET Chickens stand inside a cage at a market in Islamabad April 20, 2006. Pakistan said on Wednesday there was no threat of a pandemic from bird flu, as World Health Organisation experts visited the country's northwest which reported the first human death from the virus. (Faisal Mahmood/Reuters) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (PAKISTAN) |
Wed Dec 19, 7:06 AM ET Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have identified a new strain of swine influenza H2N3, which belongs to the group of H2 influenza viruses that last infected humans during the 1957 pandemic. This new strain has a molecular twist: It is composed of avian and swine influenza genes. These findings provide further evidence that swine have the potential to serve as a "mixing vessel" for influenza viruses carried by birds, pigs and humans. (USDA)
USDA: New Swine Flu Has Avian Flu Genes
The research team studied an unknown pathogen that in 2006 infected two groups of pigs at separate production facilities. Both groups of pigs used water obtained from ponds frequented by migrating waterfowl. |
|
Wed Dec 19, 9:33 AM ET A Saskatchewan poultry farmer whose birds contracted avian influenza says he cannot afford the cost of cleaning up his contaminated farm. (CANADA)
Saskatchewan man whose farm hit by bird flu seeks government help
The farm was quarantined and 50,000 birds destroyed after Glen reported an increase in birds dying and it was found that H7N3 avian flu was responsible. |
Wed Dec 19, 2:32 PM ET Customers look at chickens at a street stall in Rawalpindi, north of Islamabad, in Pakistan Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. According to an expert at the World Health Organization, the cluster of suspected bird flu cases in Pakistan may be a combination of infections from poultry with limited person-to-person transmission. Six have recovered and one remains under medical supervision in the cities of Abbotabad and Mansehra. AP Photo/Greg Baker (PAKISTAN) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) WHO says Pakistan bird flu cluster no cause for alarm as yet |
|
Wed Dec 19, 5:02 PM ET WESTMINSTER MA - More than two dozen waterfowl in town received a surprise lab test on Tuesday, when federal workers netted the birds to take samples to see if any of them have a deadly strain of avian flu. (USDA)
Waterfowl undergo tests for fatal strain of avian flu - Westminster, MA
Monitoring is part of national, international efforts
Wild birds in all 50 states are being monitored, and information from the samples feeds into an international effort to watch for transmission of the strain, said Monte D. Chandler of the Wildlife Services Program for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If someone sees a group of dead waterfowl that appear not to have died from natural causes, the sighting can be reported to the federal agency by calling toll-free (866) 4US-DAWS, Ms. Bannerman said. |
Thu Dec 20, 7:11 AM ET A man feeds poultry in Cotonou, December 19, 2007. Benin, the home of ritual Voodoo sacrifice, became the latest in a string of West African states to report cases of H5N1 bird flu after laboratory tests confirmed the deadly virus on two poultry farms. Benin's immediate neighbours, Nigeria, Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso, have all reported H5N1 cases. Other regional states hit include Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon. Picture taken December 19, 2007. REUTERS/Charles Placide Tossou (BENIN) |
|
New swine flu virus supports 'mixing vessel' theoryThu, 20 Dec 2007 2:59 PM PST Dec 20, 2007 (CIDRAP News) &endash; A new influenza virus discovered in Missouri pigs has a combination of genes from avian and swine flu viruses, supporting the theory that pigs can serve as a mixing vessel for flu viruses and a potential source for a human pandemic strain, according to a report published yesterday. Researchers found that the virus, an H2N3 subtype, caused illness in experimentally infected mice and was transmissible in swine and ferrets, suggesting it has adapted to mammals, according to the report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). In addition, genetic analysis showed the virus has a mutation linked with an increased ability to infect mammals. The discovery marks the first identification of an H2 virus in swine, according to the authors of the report. The flu pandemic of 1957-58 was caused by an H2 virus, namely H2N2. That virus was replaced by an H3N2 strain in the pandemic of 1968-69, and H2 viruses have not circulated in humans since then. Hence, people younger than 40 have little immunity to H2 viruses, scientists say. "Our results provide further evidence for the potential of swine to promote reassortment between different influenza viruses, and the genetic and biologic properties of the H2N3 viruses described suggest that it would be prudent to establish vigilant surveillance in pigs and in workers who have occupational exposure," states the PNAS report. |
Fri Dec 21, 3:06 AM ET A humpback whale jumps out of the waters off Hawaii in this photo, date unknown. Japan is dropping its much-criticized plan to kill protected humpback whales in the seas off Antarctica, a media report said Friday Dec. 21, 2007. The Kyodo News agency report came hours after public broadcaster NHK said the government was considering a deal for Japan to remove humpbacks from its planned harvest of more than 1,000 whales this season in the South Pacific. Commercial hunts of humpbacks have been banned worldwide since 1966. (AP Photo/NOAA Fisheries) (JAPAN) |
|
Fri Dec 21, 2:33 PM ET An officer from the National Commision for Bird Flu gives information to the public during a bird flu handling simulation in Tangerang, outside Jakarta, December 12. The World Health Organisation has said there is no need for a massive vaccine campaign against the bird flu virus (H5N1) because it has not been proven that it would become a pandemic. AFP/File/Ferbian Pradolo (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (WHO) |
Fri Dec 21, 12:31 PM ET A common buzzard found dead in Hong Kong has tested positive for the deadly bird flu virus, officials said Friday. (HONG KONG) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
|
Sat Dec 22, 3:05 PM ET Police protect a zone in Torun, in northern Poland in 2006. A new outbreak of the potentially lethal H5N1 avian flu has been detected in northern Poland where cases have already been reported, the Polish Agriculture Ministry said Saturday. (AFP/Reportera/File/Kuba Wolniak) (POLAND) |
Sat Dec 22, 5:56 PM ET Balinese local administrator volunteer culls a bird which is suspected of being infected by bird flu, by giving an injection in Denpasar on Bali, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 17, 2007. Indonesia has cleared six members of a family hospitalised with bird flu symptoms, a health official said on Saturday, in a case that has raised concerns over potential human-to-human spread of the disease. (INDONESIA) |
|
Sun Dec 23, 1:05 AM ET AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 23 Jordan is trying to prevent an outbreak of bird flu from crossing over from Saudi Arabia. (JORDAN) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
Jordan on alert for bird flu
Jordan has raised its state of alert to its highest level and resumed field inspections of bird farms and poultry stores, KUNA reported Saturday. Under the alert, non-processed livestock from Saudi Arabia is banned from entering Jordan, the Kuwait news agency reported. Saudi Arabia reported culling thousands of birds after finding four outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of the disease on a farm about 50 miles south of Riyadh.
The birds ordered destroyed included 13,500 ostriches at a farm. |
Sun Dec 23, 1:58 AM ET Mojokerto, Indonesia - UNICEF has launched a new nationwide campaign in Indonesia to raise awareness among children about the dangers of bird flu. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (INDONESIA)
Indonesia: Teaching Kids About H5N1 Bird Flu Virus
UNICEF Launches Bird Flu Education Campaign To Help Indonesian Children Some 50,000 schools will take part in the programme over the next few months. Each school is to receive a kit complete with a variety of educational tools that were specially developed using characters from a popular local TV series. UNICEF worked with the creative team from the show to develop a short cartoon and public service advertisements that will also air on several stations. "The cartoon is really good because you can easily understand why bird flu is so dangerous," said Ayu Novisia, a sixth grader at Kebonagung Elementary in East Java. |
|
Sun Dec 23, 11:02 AM ET Poultry on the way to market in central China. Author Qing says that children suffer the most from hygiene problems in the food supply. By Jochen Schönmann (CHINA) China Being Poisoned by Its Food Industry, Says Author |
Sun Dec 23, 11:45 AM ET Human To Human Bird Flu Transmission Possible But Limited, Says WHO. Some experts believe that a sick person is more likely to pass the infection on to a blood relative rather than an in law if both are in close and continuous physical contact with him/her. (Medical News)
Human To Human Bird Flu Transmission Possible But Limited, Says WHO
The good news is that it seems the bird flu outbreak has not spread - there have been no new reports of human infection or suspected human infection with bird flu since December 6th, when eight people had became ill. A veterinarian died, as did two of his brothers. Bird flu infection cannot be specified for one of the brothers because samples were never taken. The veterinarian had been involved in the culling of sick birds |
|
Sun, 23 Dec 2007 0:44 AM PST Simple safety measures and knowledge about destinations can help to keep travelers out of harm's way. Americans who travel internationally face increasing risks to their health and safety, according to travel security experts. Their overarching message: Travel smart.
Proceed with caution - Travel smart
"The way to make it relevant is to do the research.
If you're going to Mexico, recognize that express kidnappings [where the victim is snatched at an automated teller machine, then held for ransom] are big there. If you're traveling in Russia, know that there is an intolerance for homosexuality. For a gay traveler, that's a risk. None of this is about having a 250-pound guy at your door; it's planning, it's mitigating."
The incidence of terrorism, infectious diseases and natural disasters has also given rise to companies such as iJet Intelligent Risk Systems, a firm in Annapolis that monitors developments in more than 150 countries.
Among other things, iJet sends out daily intelligence briefings as well as emergency alerts to corporate clients worldwide. Recent dispatches, delivered to a client's mobile phone, e-mail account or PDA, included warnings about the mysterious plume of smoke in London, transportation strikes in Rome and Paris, and the existence of counterfeit 100 Euro notes in Spain. |
Mon Dec 24, 1:59 AM ET BEIJING - China announced here Monday that its human-use bird flu vaccine proves "safe" and "effective" during the second phase of clinical tests. (VACCINES)
Human-use bird flu vaccine 'safe' and 'effective'
BEIJING - China announced here Monday that its human-use bird flu vaccine proves "safe" and "effective" during the second phase of clinical tests.
The vaccine was jointly developed by the Beijing-based vaccine producer Sinovac Biotech, the first in the world to develop SARS vaccine, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The program was also under support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health.
Zhang Jiansan, vice-general manager of the Sinovac Biotech, said the second phase of clinical tests was carried out from September to November with approval of the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration. A total of 402 people aged from 18 to 60 took the test.
Test results showed that the major index of the vaccine all reached international standard and performed well in human body. None of the test takers were found with serious negative reaction, which proved that the vaccine was safe. |
|
Mon Dec 24, 8:06 AM ET Health Minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani on Monday announced that no confirmed case of bird flu has been detected in the country since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year beginning on March 21, 2007. (IRAN)
No confirmed bird flu case detected in Iran: minister
Lankarani praised efforts by Agriculture Jihad Ministry and the Veterinary Organization to slaughter birds when suspicious cases are witnessed. |
Mon Dec 24, 12:19 PM ET Pakistani health workers dump a bird flu infected peacock into a bag in Islamabad, February 2007. (AFP/File/Farooq Naeem) (PAKISTAN) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) Pakistan still probing human transmission in bird flu: ministry |
|
Mon Dec 24, 9:12 PM ET A scientist holds a prototype vaccine against the bird flu virus in 2006. China's state media has said that scientists are making good progress in developing a human vaccine against the deadly bird flu virus, with a second phase of tests showing it to be safe and effective. (AFP/File/Attila Kisbenedek) (CHINA) (VACCINES) |
Tue, 25 Dec 2007 9:36 AM PST A worker in bio-hazard suit waits to disinfect a truck, loaded with culled ducks at the exit of a sealed off poultry farm in Trumling, southern Germany September 8, 2007. Berlin - The third case of the deadly bird flu virus in ten days has been discovered on a small poultry farm in the German state of Brandenburg resulting in the culling of 46 chickens, officials said Tuesday. The H5N1 virus was detected among 15 chickens on a property in the state, which surrounds the German capital Berlin. (GERMANY) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
Third case of bird flu detected in 10 days in Germany |
|
Tue Dec 25, 3:55 PM ET Russia - Authorities say they have culled more than half a million domestic birds on a farm in southern Russia hit by the H5N1 strain of bird flu. (RUSSIA) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
Russian farm struck with bird flu culls 600,000
No human cases of bird flu have been reported in Russia, which had its first reported cases of H5N1 in Siberia in 2005. |
Tue Dec 25, 8:37 PM ET Birds are seen at Ha Vi market in Ha Tay Province in Vietnam, Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. Bird flu has killed a 4-year-old boy from northern Vietnam, a health official said Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007, warning that the threat of outbreaks remains high during the winter months when the virus typically flares. (VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
|
Tue Dec 25, 10:03 PM ET A bulldozer covers slaughtered birds after an outbreak of bird flu in the Egyptian village of Hanout in the Nile Delta, December 25, 2006. A 25-year-old Egyptian woman has died of bird flu, Egypt's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday. (EGYPT) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
Tue Dec 25, 10:34 PM ET An Indonesian woman who bought a live chicken from a market died from bird flu on Christmas Day, the Health Ministry bird flu centre said on Wednesday, taking the total number of deaths from the disease in Indonesia to 94. (INDONESIA) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
|
Wed Dec 26, 8:45 PM ET A nurse injects flu vaccine into a flood victim at a shelter in Villahermosa November 7, 2007. Ordinary seasonal flu vaccines may provide a small amount of protection against bird flu, Italian researchers reported on Wednesday. (VACCINES) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
Wed Dec 26, 9:30 PM ET A researcher in the Netherlands has created an avian flu vaccine in powder form. (VACCINES)
Bird flu vaccine made in powder form
A researcher in the Netherlands has created an avian flu vaccine in powder form.
Jean-Pierre Amorij of the University of Groningen, the man behind the idea, said a powder flu vaccine would be the only means of preventing many deaths in the case of a serious epidemic.
|
|
Wed Dec 26, 10:01 PM ET Lately flu experts even have expressed optimism that the threat could be receding. But meanwhile, a dispute between rich and poor nations is blocking a vital effort to track what's happening with the bird flu virus. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
Health Officials Still Wary of Flu Pandemic
Ten years after a bird flu virus first jumped directly from chickens to humans, killing six people in Hong Kong, a feared pandemic has yet to materialize.
Lately flu experts even have expressed optimism that the threat could be receding. But meanwhile, a dispute between rich and poor nations is blocking a vital effort to track what's happening with the bird flu virus.
Experts worry that if H5N1 keeps circulating in poultry, occasionally infecting humans, the virus could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person. That would likely touch off a pandemic. Since up to 80 percent of people infected with H5N1 have died, it could be as bad as the 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million people. |
Thu Dec 27, 11:30 AM ET Geese are seen at a poultry farm in Funan County, east China's Anhui province, July 17, 2007. Baffled scientists first watched a mysterious virus called H5N1 jump from birds to humans a decade ago in Hong Kong, killing six people and forcing the territory to slaughter its entire poultry population. It quieted for a while, but resurfaced in 2003 with even more questions. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
After 10 years, bird flu still baffles scientists |
|
Thu Dec 27, 5:00 PM ET Experts with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday confirmed the first case of inter-human transmission of bird flu in Pakistan, but ruled out any risk of a widespread outbreak. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (PAKISTAN) |
Fri Dec 28, 1:53 AM ET A man sells birds and ducks at a market in Cairo April 8, 3007. Two Egyptians have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, a day after an Egyptian woman died of the disease, Egypt's health ministry said on Thursday. (EGYPT) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
|
Fri Dec 28, 1:48 AM ET A Bangladeshi vendor feeds his chicks in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, March 29, 2007. Nearly 2,000 chickens have been culled in a village in northern Bangladesh after the H5N1 bird flu virus has detected at a poultry farm, officials said on Friday. (BANGLADESH) |
Fri Dec 28, 1:00 PM ET Duck hunters, including those prowling the Everglades this winter, are helping scientists nationwide guard against a bird flu pandemic. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
Duck Hunters Recruited In Fight Against Bird Flu Pandemic |
|
Sat Dec 29, 1:00 PM ET YANGON - A new bird flu outbreak has been detected in Myanmar's eastern Shan State close to the Thai border, a state-run newspaper reported Saturday. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (MYANMAR)
Myanmar detects new bird flu outbreak
The H5N1 virus was detected and confirmed Thursday following the unusual deaths of chickens in Mongphyat township in the state, the New Light of Myanmar reported.
The Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department assessed that the virus spread to the area from Kengtung Township, where bird flu broke out Dec 18, the paper said.
The report said authorities have taken the necessary measures such as setting up restricted zones and control zones, and culling of poultry in the restricted zones. |
Sat Dec 29, 6:43 PM ET The Philippines remains free from the Avian Influenza (AI), commonly known as bird flu, and one of the only two countries in Asia-Pacific that have no reported cases of the disease that is feared to pass on from fowl to human. (PHILIPPINES)
Philippines remains bird flu-free: health center
Franco explained that the public should not be too complacent since vigilance would still be the best guard against bird flu.
Body temperature monitoring devices have been installed in ports to detect possible flu being carried into the country through airports and seaports.
|
|
Sun Dec 30, 5:25 AM ET Veterinarians vacinate ducks in Kien Xuong District's Vu Cong Commune, in the northern province of Thai Binh. (VIETNAM)
Bird flu kills hundreds of ducks, chickens in Tra Vinh Province
The Viet Nam Animal Health Department has confirmed that the deaths this week in the province's Tra Vinh Town, Chau Thanh, Cau Ngang and Cang Long districts were the result of the deadly H5N1 virus. Some had not been vaccinated while the remainder were injected just two or three days before dying. The vaccine needs at least seven days to help the birds develop sufficient antibodies against the virus. Earlier, Animal Health Department officials announced that bird flu had been controlled. |
Sun Dec 30, 8:10 AM ET NANJING - The latest bird flu patient was discharged from an unidentified hospital on December 26 in the eastern province of Jiangsu, local health authorities said. (CHINA) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
Bird flu patient discharged from hospital
After being treated for about 20 days, the patient, surnamed Lu, 52, had recovered sufficiently to leave under the care of family members, the Jiangsu Provincial Health Department said.
Lu, father of a young man who died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the same city, developed a fever days after his son's death was confirmed as having been from bird flu.
Medical experts immediately sent the elder man to a designated hospital for treatment. Lu's son died on November 2, a couple of days after being diagnosed with "lower left lobe pneumonia" in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu.
He was the 17th Chinese to die of avian flu since 2003. He was said to have had no contact with dead poultry and the Jiangsu Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau said no bird flu epidemic had been discovered in the province. |
|
Sun Dec 30, 10:10 AM ET VietNamNet Bridge - The deadly H5N1 virus has been identified to cause a child's death in northern Viet Nam recently and may trigger another bird flu outbreak, especially during this holiday season when demand for poultry is at its peak, said a senior official. (VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) |
Sun Dec 30, 3:17 PM ET A man sits in front of chicken in a market in Cairo, February 14 2007. A 25-year-old Egyptian woman died of bird flu on Sunday, the second fatality among humans in Egypt in less than one week, the Health Ministry said. (EGYPT) (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
Egypt announces new bird flu death
|
|
Mon Dec 31, 5:06 PM ET Border agents at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge found four live birds inside the pockets of a pigeon collector and his travelling companion who were trying to enter the United States from Canada on the weekend. People bringing pet birds into the United States are required to arrange for a veterinary inspection at the border three to five days before entering to protect against the transmission of communicable diseases such as bird flu. (NY) (USDA) (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
Accused pigeon smugglers stopped at the Canada-US border
LEWISTON, N.Y. - A bird in the hand is one thing - but in your pocket? |
pigeon smugglersA spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the two men told inspectors they were on their way to visit an uncle who lives outside Rochester. The spokesman says the men - from Uxbridge, Ont. - were asked during a secondary inspection to remove their coats. He says that's when the pigeons were found, wrapped and taped from neck to tail, in inside pockets. The men, whose names were not released, were fined $1,000. The case was referred to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and United States Department of Agriculture inspectors for possible criminal charges, says the spokesman, Kevin Corsaro. People bringing pet birds into the United States are required to arrange for a veterinary inspection at the border three to five days before entering to protect against the transmission of communicable diseases such as bird flu.USDA inspectors took custody of the birds. |
(BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
