News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – US officials this week promoted international efforts to prepare for a potential influenza pandemic, announcing an international flu surveillance partnership and promising aid to Vietnam for avian and human flu surveillance.

(CIDRAP News) – The Philippines, previously free of the avian influenza that has spread rapidly across Asia, has reported its first cases.

Government announcements today say the H5 strain was identified in ducks on an isolated farm near the town of Calumpit in Bulacan province, north of Manila. The ducks showed no symptoms; the disease was detected during standard testing when a trader applied to export duck eggs.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to recommend that governments consider stockpiling vaccines against the H5N1 avian influenza virus now, rather than waiting until a human flu pandemic emerges, according to a story published online today by New Scientist magazine.