News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The number of reported H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in poultry and wild birds has decreased since mid 2011 and was down sharply in the second quarter of this year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a quarterly update on the ongoing situation.

(CIDRAP News) – The global H5N1 avian influenza situation has not improved very much since the virus began spreading widely in 2003, and many human cases have probably gone unreported, French health experts conclude in an assessment published yesterday in Eurosurveillance.

(CIDRAP News) - The World Health Organization (WHO) recently posted surveillance and status updates for regions where the pandemic H1N1 is just gaining a foothold, including the Mideast, Africa, and parts of Asia and the Pacific, which showed Southeast Asia as the hardest hit of those areas.

(CIDRAP News) – India scored a commendable success in stamping out its worst-ever H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, which occurred over the past 2 months in West Bengal state, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said yesterday, but it warned that outbreaks will recur unless the country stays on guard.