News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Government officials in Hong Kong, in an effort to stem to spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, recently followed through with their proposal to ban live poultry from overnight stays in market stalls and retail outlets.

(CIDRAP News) – A livestock official in Pakistan today confirmed that the H5N1 avian influenza virus has struck again in the country's North-West Frontier province, killing thousands of chickens at a commercial farm.

Ibrahim Kahn, a livestock department chief in Swabi district, where the outbreak occurred, said confirmatory tests were performed at a government laboratory in Islamabad, according to a report today from Agence France-Presse (AFP).

(CIDRAP News) – Vietnam, mired in a renewed avian influenza outbreak that has led to the death of 12 people and the culling of roughly 1 million poultry since Dec 30, 2004, asked the international community for help this week.