Thu May 1, 7:49 AM ET An Indonesian man holds his racing pigeons during a
training session in Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia,
Wednesday, April 30, 2008. A 3-year-old boy died from bird
flu in Indonesia, seen by experts as a potential hotspot for
a pandemic that one day could kill millions of people, the
Health Ministry said Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Binsar Bakkara)
(INDONESIA) Thu May 1, 8:22 AM ET Launching an action plan for the caution and prevention
of avian influenza yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Pinda said
many people would be affected by the disease because they
depend on poultry farming for consumption and commerce.
(TANZANIA) (BIRD FLU) The Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda, has warned that, if
cautionary measures are not taken immediately to prevent the
bird flu epidemic from attacking the country, Tanzanians
would be the losers both healthywise and economically. hu May 1, 9:10 AM ET MANILA, Philippines - The Presidential Anti-Smuggling
Group (PASG) warned the public Tuesday against a possible
outbreak of avian flu if exotic fowl meat from other Asian
countries continues flooding local markets. (PHILIPPINES)
(BIRD FLU) Thu May 1, 2:36 PM ET An auditorium was turned into a hospital and cardboard
patients wore tags that showed what was wrong with them and
what treatment they needed. PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Medical
students at the University of Pittsburgh had their teamwork,
communication and leadership skills put to the test during a
pandemic flu drill. (PANDEMIC FLU) Thu May 1, 4:15 PM ET On the lookout: Local health officials testing for avian
influenza look for bird droppings at Lake Towada in Akita
Prefecture on Thursday. (JAPAN) (BIRD FLU) Thu May 1, 11:55 PM ET A security guard at the US Naval Medical Research Unit -
2 laboratory in Jakarta. (AFP/Jewel Samad) (INDONESIA) (BIRD
FLU) Fri May 2, 12:02 PM ET A farmer tends his ducks on a rice field in Kanchanaburi
province western Thailand. Thailand on Friday declared
itself free of bird flu after no outbreaks of the deadly
virus were reported over the past 90 days.
(AFP/File/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul) (THAILAND) (BIRD FLU) Fri May 2, 5:32 PM ET A duck peers out of its cage while being transported to
Ha Vy wholesale poultry market, 25 km (15.5 miles) south of
Hanoi, February 26, 2008. Vietnam currently has three
provinces with this disease, Can Tho and Vinh Long in the
south and Son La in the north. (VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU) Fri May 2, 9:21 PM ET An agent of the National Bureau of Investigation looks at
exotic birds seized in a raid in Davao province July 9,
2007. Quarantine officials based at the Mactan Cebu
International Airport (MCIA) yesterday burned 62.1 kilograms
of assorted undocumented meat that foreigners attempted to
bring into Cebu over the past few weeks. (PHILIPPINES) Sat May 3, 3:56 PM ET South Korean health officials man a quarantine checkpoint
near a chicken farm where additional bird flu outbreaks were
confirmed in Yeongam, 384 kilometers south of Seoul in April
2008. Bird flu outbreaks have spread to six of South Korea's
nine provinces despite a massive cull which saw the
slaughter of more than five million chickens and ducks last
month, officials said Saturday.(AFP/File/Park Yeong-Cheol)
(SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Sat May 3, 5:00 PM ET Diabetes is more than an epidemic in the United States
and the world, it is a pandemic that is growing, says Rear
Adm. Kenneth P. Moritsugu, who recently retired as acting
U.S. surgeon general. (HAWAII) (PANDEMIC) Moritsugu said 21 million Americans have diabetes and 54
million are pre-diabetic and will progress to type 2
diabetes, a total of 75 million out of the nation's 300
million people. He cited three priorities to improve national health: to
transform the health care system to focus on prevention and
early treatment of diabetes; to prepare people with the
chronic disease to care for themselves in a disaster; and to
eliminate health disparities. Sun May 4, 5:00 AM ET GENEVA - The World Health Organization denies it is
recommending that visitors to China for this summer's
Olympic Games should pack an antiviral drug to protect
themselves against avian flu. (CHINA) (WHO) (BIRD FLU) Sun May 4, 5:23 AM ET LOS ANGELES - As matters now stand, accredited,
professional journalists from Taiwan are once again being
denied press passes by U.N. authorities to cover the annual
World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization. The
topic is "A Safer Future: Global Public Health Security in
the 21st Century." The reporters from Taiwan are not being denied
accreditation because they are not competent
journalists. They are being denied because they're from Taiwan, which
is not a member of the United Nations because it is not
recognized by the U.N. or by most countries of the world,
and for that matter the United States as a separate,
sovereign country. Mon May 5, 12:26 AM ET South Korean health officials walk to bury chickens at
the infected chicken farm in Gimje, 162 miles south of Seoul
on April 4, 2008. Solving a 60-year-old mystery, researchers
have concluded that new flu strains emerge in eastern and
southeastern Asia, move to Europe and North America six to
nine months later, then travel to South America where they
disappear forever. (RESEARCH) (VACCINES) (BIRD FLU) Mon May 5, 6:25 AM ET Swans float on the waters of Akan National Park's Lake
Kussharo in the north Japanese town of Teshikaga in this
February 8, 2008 file photo. A dead swan tested positive for
bird flu in northern Japan on Monday, the environment
ministry said, less than a week after officials announced
the first detection of the deadly virus in 13 months.
(AFP/JIJI PRESS/Okayama Prefecture Government) (JAPAN) (BIRD
FLU) Mon May 5, 7:17 AM ET The North's Korean Central News Agency quoted quarantine
official Ri Kyong Gun as saying all poultry in provinces
near the border with the South have received emergency
vaccinations, citing a bird flu outbreak in southern South
Korea. (NORTH KOREA) (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Mon May 5, 9:30 PM ET Who Should Doctors Let Die In A Pandemic? Report: The
Very Elderly, Seriously Hurt Trauma Victims Among Those Who
Wouldn't Be Treated. (CBS/iStockphoto) (PANDEMIC) Tue May 6, 9:15 AM ET A worker injects a chicken with bird flu vaccine at a
farm in Suining, Sichuan province, February 26, 2008. The
risk of a human influenza pandemic remains real and is
probably growing as the bird flu virus becomes entrenched in
poultry in more countries, health officials warned on
Tuesday. REUTERS/Stringer (PANDEMIC FLU) (BIRD FLU
PANDEMIC) Tue May 6, 12:05 PM ET A South Korean quarantine official decontaminates a small
aviary, which was hit by bird flu, in Seoul's Gwangjin
district. Bird flu has spread to South Korea's capital
despite a massive nationwide cull that saw the slaughter of
six million ducks and chickens in recent weeks, officials
said Tuesday.(Jung Yeon Je) (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Tue May 6, 12:38 PM ET Indian children stand in a queue to give their chickens
to health workers for culling. Deshakalyan Chowdury/AFP/Getty Images (INDIA) (BIRD
FLU) Tue May 6, 2:35 PM ET Ducks for sale at a market in Nanchang of Jiangxi
Province, China. One of China's top doctors has said that
the H5N1 bird flu virus has shown signs of mutation and can
kill human victims more easily if treatment is not given
early enough. China Photos/Getty Images Reuters
Published: March 11, 2008 (CHINA) (BIRD FLU) Wed May 7, 2:29 AM ET Riding a camel at Seoul Grand Children's Park.The
Gwangjin-gu local government office is just 1.2 kilometers
(less than a mile) from Children's Grand Park, an amusement
park that includes the biggest zoo in Seoul. That raised
concerns about the risk of human infection because 500,000
people visited the park on the Children's Day holiday
Monday. (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Wed May 7, 3:18 AM ET South Koreans stand at a quarantine checkpoint near a
small aviary, which was hit by bird flu, in Seoul's Gwangjin
district on May 6. South Korea's capital Seoul on Wednesday
confirmed that the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu had been
detected in an aviary in a first outbreak in the city,
officials said. (AFP/Jung Yeon-Je) (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD
FLU) Wed May 7, 4:15 AM ET A South Korean police officer tries to catch a goose for
slaughter at a university's lake near a local government
office where a bird flu outbreak occurred, in Seoul, South
Korea, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. The first bird flu outbreak
in South Korea's capital has been confirmed as the dangerous
H5N1 strain, the Agriculture Ministry said Wednesday. (AP
Photo/ Yonhap, Park Ji-ho) (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Wed May 7, 10:24 PM ET Each year more than six million birds from 35 different
species migrate from Asia to Alaska. Dozens of the state's
top biologist are teaming up for a critical exercise.
(ALASKA) (BIRD FLU) Thu May 8, 7:15 AM ET Worcester County joins states as far as Colorado and
communities as close as the town of Ocean City in refusing
an offer to purchase a portion of the 368,027 treatment
regimens available intended for essential government
personnel and family members, other local government and
state agency workers, along with members of the private
sector deemed as deemed necessary. (MD) (PANDEMIC) Thu May 8, 10:54 PM ET Bird flu has stricken fowl flocks in Vietnam's southern
Can Tho city over the past few days, raising the total
number of affected localities in the country to three,
according to Vietnam's Department of Animal Health on
Thursday. (BIRD FLU) (VIETNAM) Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003,
have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of
millions of fowls in the country. Fri May 9, 12:43 AM ET A health officer in a protective suit sprays disinfectant
at a gate of the district office in the eastern part of
Seoul May 6, 2008. Since this year's first report of bird
flu early last month in the southwestern part of the
country, authorities have culled millions of birds and
decontaminated poultry farms, vehicles and traditional
markets in an attempt to contain the spread of the sickness.
REUTERS/Park Ji-Ho/Yonhap (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Fri, May 09, 3:49 PM ET NEW DELHI: The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has resurfaced
in West Bengal, with the latest area to be infected being a
small town, Sukna, in the tea-growing hill district of
Darjeeling. (INDIA) (BIRD FLU) Two samples sent from dead backyard poultry found in a
village near the town have tested positive at Bhopal's High
Security Animal Disease Laboratory. The virus had caused
mortality of over 300 backyard poultry in a couple of
days. The latest outbreak takes the number of infected
districts in the state to 15. Fri, May 09, 5:22 PM ET Global Influenza Programme Coordinator Keiji Fukuda."In
developing a WHO public health research agenda we are trying
to push for a paradigm change," Fukuda told the final
session of a four-day WHO meeting on bird flu. (WHO)
(RESEARCH) (BIRD FLU) Sat May 10, 12:14 AM ET Japanese health workers scatter lime on dead chickens to
kill the bird flu virus. Japan confirmed its first human
case of bird flu. Japanese officials worried Saturday that
the H5N1 bird flu virus may be spreading among wild birds in
the north after the body of a swan tested positive for the
disease, the third case in recent weeks. (JAPAN) (BIRD
FLU) Sat May 10, 2:40 AM ET Health workers in a poultry farm in eastern India in
April 2008. Bird flu has spread to the hilly Darjeeling
district of eastern India which has been hit by avian
influenza several times already this year, a minister said
Saturday. (AFP/File/Diptendu Dutta) (INDIA) (BIRD FLU)
(PANDEMIC) Sat May 10, 9:05 PM ET At the moment, the pandemic of avian flu still exists in
the world. For example, in Korea now, it is not under
control of avian flu in poultry. In other parts, human flu
still exists. If this cold exists, then it will be more
possible to develop human avian flu. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) He warns that the new wave of epidemics could stem from
human-to-human transmission of avian flu. Sat May 10, 10:45 PM ET South Korean health officials at a bird flu infected farm
in Iksan, south of Seoul, in 2006. South Korea will double
its stockpiles of antiviral flu medicine Tamiflu as avian
flu has spread through most the country, health officials
said Saturday. (AFP/File/Jeon Young-Han) (BIRD FLU) (SOUTH
KOREA) Sun May 11, 6:29 AM ET A health worker holds poultry for culling at Chota
Adalpur village in Darjeeling district, about 20 km (12
miles) north from the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri
May 11, 2008. India has not reported any human infections of
the H5N1 bird flu virus since the country's first outbreak
in 2006. REUTERS/Stringer (INDIA) (BIRD FLU) Mon May 12, 2:44 AM ET South Korean quarantine officials wearing protective
suits capture chickens to slaughter at a poultry farm in
Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 12, 2008. South Korean
quarantine officials have started killing poultry in Seoul
to curb the spread of bird flu after a fresh outbreak of the
disease in the capital, officials said Monday. (AP Photo/
Yonhap, Kim Ju-sung) (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Mon May 12, 6:18 AM ET Beijing has given permission for mass production of a
Bird Flu vaccine for humans, April 2008. In November 2007,
the 402 people that the vaccine was tested on were checked
for antibodies, safety and immune response and met
international standards of both the United States and
European unions. The participants were between the ages 18
and 60, minor effects were found but only like those of a
general flu shot. (CHINA) (VACCINES) (BIRD FLU) Mon May 12, 7:48 AM ET CHIANG RAI : More than 100 bottles of bird flu vaccine,
worth six million baht, (six million Thai baht = 187,092
U.S. dollars) were seized at Chiang Saen port yesterday.
Customs staff found 120 bottles of 250cc vaccine on a
Chinese cargo ship, Hongta, which travelled from China.
(THAILAND) (CHINA) (VACCINES) (BIRD FLU) Mon May 12, 11:53 PM ET The Cambodian government has signed an agreement with a
group of donors for three grants totaling 11 million U.S.
dollars for the kingdom to carry out national plan to
contain bird flu. (CAMBODIA) (BIRD FLU) (AHI) Tue May 13, 12:24 AM ET A South Korean official decontaminates an aviary in Seoul
in early May. The country is to disinfect all poultry farms
nationwide to combat its worst ever outbreak of bird flu.
(AFP/File/Jung Yeon-Je) (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Tue May 13, 4:45 AM ET World health experts believe there is still a chance the
Asian bird flu virus could develop into a killer strain and
sweep across the world. REUTERS/Stringer (INDIA) (WHO) (BIRD
FLU) (PANDEMIC FLU) Tue May 13, 4:45 AM ET A health worker culls poultry in Sukna village, 10 km (6
miles) north of the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri,
May 12, 2008. The World Health Organisation has called for
more collaborative research into the bird flu virus, which
it said could help reduce death and illness in a human
influenza pandemic. REUTERS/Stringer (INDIA) (WHO) (BIRD
FLU) (PANDEMIC FLU) Tue May 13, 5:05 AM ET The local veterinary service said about a high risk of
bird flu outbreaks. Long An province now has 300,000 ducks,
that travel from Dong Thap, AN Giang, Vinh Long and Hau
Giang. So far, five provinces, including Son La, Vinh Long,
Can Tho, Tra Vinh and Long An have yet to be free from bird
flu for 21 days. (BIRD FLU) (VIETNAM) Tue May 13, 9:44 AM ET A panel of business leaders and security experts told
lawmakers last week that the government is falling short in
preparing for terrorist attacks or pandemic diseases. (US
HEALTH PANDEMIC) (DHS) The Homeland Security Department has done a poor job of
coordinating and planning for events that disrupt key
industry sectors. And federal health officials have done
little to ensure that hospitals can accommodate mass
injuries in the event of a disaster, experts said. Wed May 14, 1:33 AM ET MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines. Because of the dangers of
bird flu, care and caution must always be exercised when it
comes to purchasing, handling and cooking poultry meat such
as chicken. (PHILIPPINES) (BIRD FLU) In the Philippines, the National Meat Inspection Service
(NMIS) is steadfast in its drive to ensure that markets and
other distribution channels only offer safe meats for public
consumption. The NMIS has accreditation programs for meat
and poultry processing plants, cold storage facilities and
other meat establishments. Consumer information, awareness,
and protection programs are also in place, which include the
celebration of the annual Meat Safety Consciousness
Week. Wed May 14, 1:56 AM ET The Philippines remains "bird flu-free." But this should
not make us complacent. We have to exert extra effort to
prevent the virus from entering the country. The Department
of Environment and Natural Resources, together with the
Departments of Agriculture and Health, is on top of the
government campaign against the disease. But we need the
cooperation of everyone to ensure that we remain "bird-flu"
free. One way to safeguard our lives and properties from the
deadly virus is to arm ourselves with correct information
about the virus and not dwell on rumors. (PHILIPPINES) (BIRD
FLU) Wed May 14, 4:30 AM ET Gov. Martin O'Malley has asked the U.S. Commerce
Secretary to declare the Chesapeake Bay's blue crab fishery
a federal disaster. O'Malley made the announcement in Fells
Point with U.S. Sens. Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski.
(Sun photo by Doug Kapustin / May 2, 2008) (MD) (US) Wed May 14, 7:04 AM ET At a meeting of the National Steering Board on Avian
Influenza in Hanoi on May 13, Bui Ba Bong, deputy minister
of agriculture and rural development, stressed on a possibly
high risk of bird flu, especially in the Mekong delta.
(VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU) This followed outbreaks of bird flu on ducks in five
communes in five districts of Long An and Tra Vinh provinces
and Can Tho city. Therefore, localities have been asked to stand ready for
any outbreaks of bird flu. Wed May 14, 8:07 AM ET Health workers collect blood samples from a pigeon in the
neighbourhood of woman who died of bird flu in Jakarta in
late 2007. Two teenagers died within 10 days because of
suspected bird flu in Jakarta, prompting health officials to
take blood test of the rest family members, local press said
Wednesday. (INDONESIA) (BIRD FLU) Wed May 14, 10:07 PM ET Two cocks are seen at a stall in Shanghai in this
February 27, 2008 file photo. Governments need to stockpile
different sorts of flu drugs -- not just Roche Holding AG's
Tamiflu -- to counter the danger of resistance in a pandemic
triggered by bird flu, British experts said on Wednesday.
REUTERS/Aly Song/Files (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (Medical
News) Thu May 15, 12:28 AM ET A report in Nature Online journal has found the strain of
the bird flu virus dangerous to humans is resistant to the
anti-viral drug Tamiflu. Australia has 6.9 million courses
of Tamiflu in stockpile, but only 1.8 million courses of
Relenza, the drug that is effective against the virus.
(AUSTRALIA) (BIRD FLU) Thu May 15, 1:35 AM ET JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia's health minister said
Thursday she would start sharing all genetic information
about her country's bird flu virus with a new global
database, to monitor whether the disease is mutating into a
dangerous pandemic strain. (BIRD FLU) (INDONESIA) (WHO) Thu May 15, 5:29 AM ET A researcher works on developing a human bird flu
vaccine. South Korea will build its own factory to produce
human bird flu vaccine, as authorities battled the country's
worst outbreak among poultry. (AFP/File/Str) (SOUTH KOREA)
(BIRD FLU) (RESEARCH) (VACCINES) Thu May 15, 9:40 AM ET Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari gestures
during an interview with The Associated Press in Jakarta,
Indonesia, Tuesday, April 29, 2008. Indonesia says it will
start sharing all information about its bird flu cases with
a new public database, a move experts say will help monitor
the disease following the country's yearlong standoff with
the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
(BIRD FLU) (INDONESIA) (WHO) Fri May 16, 10:28 AM ET According to US experts, the World Health Organisation
(WHO) worries about the safety of vaccines that are produced
from living cells such as the cells of monkey or dog kidneys
because these living cells may contain viruses that man
doesn't know about yet and germs that can infect humans. To
be sure that living cells are suitable for producing
vaccines, they must be tested very carefully, which can make
vaccine costs very high. They have urged Vietnam to be
careful in the current period of testing on humans. (BIRD
FLU EPIDEMIC) (VIETNAM) (WHO) (VACCINES) (RESEARCH) Fri May 16, 11:13 AM ET A chicken farmer eats a raw egg yesterday in a rally in
front of the Korea Centers for Disease Control building in
Seoul to demonstrate the safety of poultry products. Poultry
farmers were trying to promote the consumption of their
products amid nationwide bird flu outbreaks. (SOUTH KOREA)
(BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC) Sat May 17, 4:02 AM ET Indian railway workers prepare to paint an empty train
station in the 'bird flu' affected village of Navapur,
February 2006. The Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease
Laboratory confirmed Friday that the samples sent from
Bijanbari block May 11 were H5N1 virus affected. "We are
sending around 200 cullers to the five affected villages -
Samalbong, Singtam, Som, Liza Hill and Chongtong," state
Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rehaman told
IANS here Saturday. (INDIA) (BIRD FLU) (BIRD FLU
EPIDEMIC) Sun May 18, 5:19 AM ET South Korean quarantine officials catch wild birds in a
lake in Seoul on May 7 after the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus
hit a nearby aviary. South Korea has mobilised army soldiers
for the second time to help battle an outbreak of bird flu,
which has already led to the culling of more than seven
million poultry, officials said. (AFP/File/Lee Jong-Seung)
(SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) (BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC) Mon May 19, 1:34 AM ET A health worker culls a chicken at a poultry farm in
Bijoy village, about 28 miles west of the northeastern
Indian city of Agartala April 24, 2008. European authorities
have approved the first pre-pandemic bird flu vaccine,
Prepandrix, from GlaxoSmithKline Plc, its maker said on
Monday. Europe's biggest drugmaker hopes the move will spur
fresh stockpile orders from governments around the world.
(Stringer/Reuters) (VACCINES) Mon May 19, 3:15 AM ET It is feared the H5N1 strain of bird flu could cause a
pandemic. UK drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has won
European Union approval for its vaccine designed to protect
people against the H5N1 strain of bird flu. (UK)
(VACCINES) Sat May 17, 7:14 AM ET Representatives from its Manama-based Trade Mission are
lobbying officials in the hope of raising awareness about
its omission from the body, which it has been trying to
become part of for the past 11 years.They say it is willing
and will be able to make significant contribution towards
world health. (WHO) (TAIWAN) (BIRD FLU) Mon May 19, 1:48 AM ET LONDON (AP) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Monday that it has
received permission from European medical regulators to
market a human bird flu vaccine it has already sold to
several governments to stockpile in preparation for a
pandemic. (VACCINES) Mon May 19, 4:30 AM ET Iranian experts took part in the International Meeting on
Pandemic Influenza in the presence of the Eastern
Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) countries held in
Rabat, Morocco, on May 12-16. (IRAN) (BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC) Mon May 19, 4:56 AM ET The Department of Agriculture has lifted the temporary
ban on all imports of domestic and wild birds, along with
poultry and its products from Germany, after official
confirmation showed the absence of the bird flu virus in
that country during the last three months. (GERMANY)
(OIE) Mon, 19 May 2008 8:09 AM PDT LONDON - The media pandemic may have died down, but
GlaxoSmithKline is betting that the threat of an actual bird
flu pandemic is still real enough for governments across
Europe. (VACCINES) (BIRD FLU Pre Pandemic) (BIRD FLU
PANDEMIC) The pharmaceutical company said on Monday it had secured
European approval for the first pre-pandemic vaccine against
the dreaded H5N1 virus, more commonly known as bird flu,
which began to gain notoriety five years ago. Mon May 19, 5:22 PM ET Indian states bordering Bangladesh have become vulnerable
to bird flu with the country continuing to be a breeding
ground for the disease, officials here said Monday. (INDIA)
(WHO) (BANGLADESH) 'Forty-seven of the 64 districts in Bangladesh are hit by
bird flu. With the authorities failing to control the
disease and no efforts at checking smuggling of poultry and
poultry products, bordering Indian states are becoming
vulnerable to avian influenza,' said Ashish Roy Burman,
director of Tripura's Animal Resource Development (ARD)
department. Tue May 20, 4:00 AM ET GENEVA - THE World Health Organisation's (WHO) assembly
again rejected Taiwan's bid for observer status, declaring
that mainland China had responsibility for health issues
affecting the island's 23 million people. (TAIWAN) (CHINA)
(WHO) The decision, taken on the opening day of the WHO's
six-day annual meeting on Monday, was the 12th year in a row
that the United Nations agency had rebuffed Taiwan's
campaign. Tue May 20, 4:25 AM ET The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning
concerning major threats to human health. Ms. Chan says the
third global crisis looming on the horizon is a pandemic
triggered by the spread of bird flu to humans and the threat
has by no means receded, all countries will be affected in a
rapid and sweeping way, and to let down our guard, would be
very unwise. (BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC) (WHO) The WHO has identified 21 "hot spots" around the world
which are already experiencing high levels of acute and
chronic malnutrition and Ms. Chan says the aim of an
international task force on the global crisis caused by
soaring food prices, is to guide priority action. Tue May 20, 8:13 AM ET An Indian health worker carries out a chicken cull after
an outbreak of bird flu in the village of Sukna on the
outskirts of Siliguri on May 11. British pharmaceutical firm
GlaxoSmithKline has said that the European Commission has
granted the first licence to market a vaccine in preparation
for a pandemic of H5N1 bird flu in Europe.(AFP/File/Diptendu
Dutta) (VACCINES) (BIRD FLU Pre Pandemic) Tue May 20, 9:56 AM ET The bird flu strain that has swept through Korea over the
past six weeks is not the same strain that has infected
humans, government authorities found over the weekend. South
Korean health officials in protective suits transport a sack
containing chickens to be buried at a chicken farm in
Yeongam, South Korea. (SOUTH KOREA) (BIRD FLU) Tue May 20, 10:22 PM ET A health worker injecting a chicken with the bird flu
vaccine in a poultry farm in China. The H5N1 virus may never
become pandemic but, if it does, the catastrophic situation
could be more than we can even imagine. (RESEARCH) (BIRD
FLU) Tue May 20, 11:15 PM ET Brussels, May 20: The European Union has granted licence
to a British company to market a human pre-pandemic bird flu
vaccine, called Prepandrix, in all 27-member European Union
countries, the EurActiv news portal reported Tuesday. (BIRD
FLU Pre Pandemic) (VACCINES) Wed May 21, 5:17 AM ET GlaxoSmithKlin(e hopes the vaccine will at least buy
governments some time in the event of a bird flu pandemic.
Europe approves pandemic vaccine; countries must decide own
strategies. (PANDEMIC VACCINE) Wed May 21, 8:45 AM ET Risk management: Firefighters transport a man pretending
to be a patient with H5N1 bird flu symptoms during a drill
Wednesday in Kawasaki. (BIRD FLU Pre Pandemic) (JAPAN) Wed May 21, 9:15 AM ET Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital employee, Robbie Allen,
left, assists Hospital Incident Commander Paul Lewis during
a Sonoma County Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Drill at the
hospital Tuesday morning. Shot on Tuesday, May 20, 2008.
Photo Credit: Charlie Gesell / The Press Democrat (US HEALTH
PANDEMIC) Wed May 21, 5:22 PM ET A chicken sits inside a cage at a market in Jakarta,
Indonesia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008. INDONESIA is still
digging in its heels over access to the most recent strains
of the H5N1 flu virus. (PANDEMIC VACCINE) (BIRD FLU Pre
Pandemic) Thu May 22, 10:10 AM ET Chickens up for sale in Dhaka in February 2008.
Bangladesh reported its first confirmed case of human bird
flu Thursday, saying a 16-month-old boy has been diagnosed
with the deadly virus. (AFP/File) (BANGLADESH) Thu May 22, 10:30 AM ET Nepal, often called "Shangri-La", is one of the most
unique countries on earth. Home to over 1200 species of
birds, KATHMANDU: Nepal has issued a bird flu alert and is
testing poultry along the border with India, where the virus
rages despite the culling of tens of thousands of chickens
since 2006, officials said. (NEPAL) (BIRD FLU) Thu May 22, 10:45 AM ET SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. eFoodSafety.com, Inc. applauds the
European Commission's marketing authorization in the
European Union of GlaxoSmithKline's H5N1 pre-pandemic bird
flu vaccine Prepandrix™. eFoodSafety, which is also
dedicated to developing solutions aimed at combating the
virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, commends the European
Commission for raising global awareness of the influenza
pandemic and allowing for the advancement of technologies
designed to address potential human threats relating to this
deadly virus. (BIRD FLU Pre Pandemic) Fri May 23, 4:15 AM ET GENEVA, May 23 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation
(WHO) on Friday confirmed the first human case of bird flu
in Bangladesh, a baby boy who has recovered, bringing the
number of countries which have recorded human infections to
15. Bangladesh authorities announced the case on Thursday,
and the WHO said it had been confirmed by a laboratory at
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in
Atlanta. (WHO) (BANGLADESH) (BIRD FLU) Fri May 23, 8:00 AM ET Bonn, Germany - Greater international cooperation on bird
flu and the setting up of an early warning system to counter
the disease were needed, members of an international bird
flu task force warned Friday. (BIRD FLU) The executive secretary of the UN's Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS), Robert Hepworth, said the task
force had come up with specific measures to halt the spread
of the virus at national level. The task force was unequivocally opposed to killing wild
fowl and destroying their habitats, he said. Practices like these worked against international
conservation and could even increase the risk of infection,
he said. Fri May 23, 9:18 AM ET Avian Influenza Control Project has said at least six
Neppali districts bordering India are at risk of bird flu,
local media reported on Friday. (NEPAL) (BIRD FLU) Sat, May 24 03:58 AM A Bangladeshi vendor feeds his chicks in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, Thursday, March 29, 2007. Confirming its first
case of bird flu in a human, Bangladesh has become the 15th
country in the world to report a human case of H5N1 avian
influenza. Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate or
combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus
and spark a pandemic, especially in countries where people
live in close proximity to backyard poultry. The human case
in Bangladesh has put the Indian Government on its toes.
(INDIA) (BANGLADESH) (HUMAN BIRD FLU) (BIRD FLU
PANDEMIC) Sat, May 24 05:39 AM ET A researcher works on developing a human bird flu
vaccine. South Korea will build its own factory to produce
human bird flu vaccine. (HUMAN BIRD FLU) (SOUTH KOREA) Sun, May 25 06:12 AM ET A case of bird flu in a young child in Bangladesh has
raised concern. The boy is from a poor crowded slum area in
the capital Dhaka, nowhere near a chicken farm. (BANGLADESH)
(BIRD FLU) It has infected chickens, ducks and wild birds in more
than two-thirds of country's districts, as well as
neighbouring parts of India but while the impact has been
massive, until now, the costs has been mainly economic, to
the tune of $650m. Two million birds have been culled and as many eggs and
more than one and a half million people are now without
work. Sun, May 25 10:30 PM ET A veterinarian sprays an anti-viral solution at a chicken
farm in Tien Giang Province. VietNamNet Bridge - While the
avian flu epidemic spreads nationwide, many big chicken
farms in Mekong Delta provinces are still safe from the
scourge due to their self-contained chicken raising process
and the automatic system of cooling. (VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU
EPIDEMIC) Mon, May 26 1:30 AM ET Julie Pryde displays the components of a pandemic flu kit
along with a sample of her flu-related books Monday in her
office at C-U Public Health District in Champaign.
(PANDEMIC) (IL) Mon, May 26 1:37 AM ET In countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Saudi
Arabia, even the often dodgy official statistics show prices
have risen by 8 percent to 10 percent over the past year. In
Russia, the rate is over 14 percent; in Argentina, the true
figure is 23 percent, and in Venezuela, it is 29 percent.
(PANDEMIC) (PA) Ronald Reagan once described inflation as being "as
violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and
as deadly as a hit man." Until recently, central bankers thought this thug had
been locked up for life. Thanks to sound monetary policies,
inflation worldwide had stayed low in recent years. But the
mugger is back on the prowl. In countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Saudi
Arabia, even the often dodgy official statistics show prices
have risen by 8 percent to 10 percent over the past year. In
Russia, the rate is over 14 percent; in Argentina, the true
figure is 23 percent, and in Venezuela, it is 29
percent. Mon, May 26 4:21 AM ET CHICAGO - Some strains of bird flu are coming ever closer
to developing the traits they need to cause a human
pandemic, a study released Monday said. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC)
(HUMAN BIRD FLU) Researchers who analysed samples of recent avian flu
viruses found that a few H7 strains of the virus that have
caused minor, untransmissible infections in people in North
America between 2002 and 2004 have increased their affinity
for the sugars found on human tracheal cells. Mon, May 26 2:32 PM PDT Mild bird flu strains circulating in North America have
gained some ability to infect human cells, and should be
monitored for dangerous mutations, government researchers
said. (BIRD FLU STRAINS) (NORTH AMERICA) Mon, May 26 4:17 PM PDT The H5N1 strain of bird flu that has killed 241 people is
not the only one that could trigger a pandemic, according to
research in America. A few H7 strains of the flu virus have
started to evolve some of the traits they would need to
infect people easily, scientists have discovered. (BIRD FLU
STRAINS) (NORTH AMERICA) Each of the three flu pandemics of the last century was
caused by a humanised strain of flu. The Spanish Flu of
1918-19, which killed up to 40 million people, was caused by
an H1N1 virus. The 1957-58 Asian Flu was caused by an H2N2
strain, and the 1968-69 Hong Kong Flu by an H3N2 strain. Tue, May 27 9:26 AM PDT H7N2 strain. Some strains of bird flu are coming ever
closer to developing the traits they need to cause a human
pandemic, a new study warns. (BIRD FLU STRAINS) (NORTH
AMERICA) The authors said that if the viruses continue to evolve
in this direction, the avian flu viruses could travel more
easily between other animals and humans. They called for
strict surveillance of avian flu viruses and continuing
federal preparations for a possible future pandemic. The study, released on Monday, appears in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. Tue, May 27 9:40 AM PDT A nurse wears a surgical mask to protect against
infection. Some strains of bird flu are coming ever closer
to developing the traits they need to cause a human
pandemic, a study released Monday said. (AFP/File/Peter
Parks) (BIRD FLU STRAINS) (NORTH AMERICA) Tue, May 27 9:53 AM PDT H7N2 strain. North American avian flu viruses of the H7
subtype, like the one responsible for British Columbia's
massive poultry outbreak in 2004, seem to have adapted to
more easily invade the human respiratory tract, a new
American study suggests. Experts say the findings underscore
the fact that H7 flu viruses pose a significant pandemic
threat and that surveillance for cases in wild birds,
poultry and people ought to be a high priority. (BIRD FLU
STRAINS) (NORTH AMERICA) H7 viruses from North America that have been isolated
from about 2002 onwards seem to have developed an increasing
affinity for the human-type receptors, said Dr. Terrence
Tumpey, the CDC scientist who led the work. "These viruses
are partially adapted to recognize the receptors preferred
by human influenza viruses, but not completely," he said in
an interview from Atlanta. "It needs to be adapted further.
But I think it shows that potentially that these viruses are
changing." "Because we can look at an older North American
H7 or Eurasian H7s or H5s and they have the characteristic
avian influenza binding properties. Whereas these seem to be
different and possibly changing." Wed, May 28 1:46 AM PDT It's been 11 years since six people in Hong Kong died
after contracting the H5N1 virus more commonly known as bird
flu. Since then, more than 240 people have died from the
disease. That number may seem large, but it pales compared
to the hundreds of thousands or millions that could die if
the virus mutates and a pandemic takes hold. GPs trying to
respond to the crisis may not have the medication to protect
themselves and their staff. (BIRD FLU PANDEMIC) (BIRD FLU
STRAINS) Wed, May 28 6:17 AM PDT In a paper published recently in the Public Library of
Science, researchers Luís Bettencourt and Ruy Ribeiro
of Los Alamos' Theoretical Division describe a novel
approach to reading subtle changes in epidemiological data
to gain insight into whether something like the H5N1 strain
of avian influenza - commonly known these days as the "Bird
Flu" - has gained the ability to touch off a deadly global
pandemic. (BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC) (BIRD FLU STRAINS) Wed, May 28 1:34 PM PDT Interest in backyard poultry appears to be on the rise,
coinciding with consumers' desire for locally raised food
and knowledge of where their food comes from. The hatchery,
whose biggest customer is Tractor Supply Co., last saw
demand spike in 1999 prior to the Y2K scare. Business was
then hit hard by the bird flu scare of 2004-06. (OH) Wed, May 28 3:21 PM PDT Bangladeshi vendors display chickens in a cage at a
market in Dhaka, May 3, 2007. An infant in Bangladesh
contracted H5N1 bird flu and survived, in the South Asian
country's first human infection with the virus, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday. (BANGLADESH)
(WHO) (BIRD FLU) Thu, May 29 5:51 AM PDT LYNN - City officials are looking into banning residents
from possessing farm animals such as horses, pigs, and fowl
at their homes for fear of a health crisis or outbreak of
the Avian Flu. Current ordinance bans the possession of
fowl, swine, cattle, horses, pigs, ponies, mules, monkeys,
roosters, goats, sheep, exotic animals, or reptiles. The
amendment would add pigeons, hens, and chickens to the list.
(BIRD FLU) Thu, May 29 10:45 AM PDT The company has set up rooms for response teams to
operate in its offices in Canada, Houston and Oklahoma City.
(Emergency Preparedness & Response) The issue is not just for large, publicly traded
companies, though. One author and disaster-preparedness
consultant said nearly half of the country's small
businesses aren't making those types of plans, a statistic
that's "disturbing." Thu, May 29 1:27 PM PDT People watching a theatre performance / Photo credit:
UNICEF. With UNICEF support, the Government has disseminated
educational messages through the mass media to raise public
awareness on bird flu prevention. (BANGLADESH) (BIRD
FLU) Fri, May 30 1:16 AM PDT Mosquitoes, the pesky insects that breed in water, feed
on ankles and carry the West Nile virus, will probably be
more abundant this summer, two area entomologists are
predicting. (SC) (US HEALTH PANDEMIC) Mosquitoes carry the West Nile virus and can pass it on
to people, birds and other animals with their bite. The
virus causes flu-like symptoms. The elderly and people with
weak immune systems could have more serious problems such as
muscular tremors, high fever and sometimes death. Two West Nile cases have been reported in South Carolina
this year in birds or other animals, one of them in York
County. No human cases have been reported this year,
according to state health officials. Fri, May 30 3:38 AM PDT Dr. Nguyen Tuyet Nga (L), head of the high tech division
of the Vietnam's Vaccine and Biological Production No. 1
company vaccinates a volunteer at a human vaccine trial for
bird flu H5N1 virus in Hanoi April 3, 2008. The Vaccine and
Medical Biological Institute in Nha Trang City has asked the
Ministry of Health to test its H5N1 influenza vaccine on
humans, after the vaccine worked successfully on animals.
(VIETNAM) (VACCINES) (BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC) Fri, May 30 1:59 PM PDT "Although the country is still free from this deadly
virus, the annual migration of birds to the Candaba swamp
poses danger not only to the province but the whole country.
These birds might be carrying the deadly strain," Pampanga
officials said. (PHILIPPINES) (BIRD FLU) "Although the country is still free from this deadly
virus, the annual migration of birds to the Candaba swamp
poses danger not only to the province but the whole country.
These birds might be carrying the deadly strain," Pampanga
officials said. Lu said vigilance should be emphasized especially in the
implementation of the laws regarding transport, transit and
smuggling of fowls, exotic birds and poultries from other
countries. Fri, May 30 2:45 PM PDT The WHO is affiliated to the United Nations and it is
similar to UNFPA, UNICEF etc. I hold the post of Chairman of
the Executive Committee of WHO for a period of one year. It
is possible for a person to get re-elected after a lapse of
a period of two years. (SRI LANKA) (WHO) Sat, May 31 2:10 AM PDT Eighteen months ago, the zoo received a recommendation to
place peafowl in new homes to protect them from the bird
flu. "If avian influenza found its way to North America,
we'd have to immediately capture all free-ranging birds and
find homes for them, which could prove difficult," Keele
said. (ZOOS)
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Inflation becoming worldwide pandemic
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Folk theatre in Bangladesh educates people on bird
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