News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Despite recent spikes in H5N1 avian influenza activity in humans and birds, there have been fewer bird outbreaks in fewer countries this year than in 2006, according to a preliminary report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

(CIDRAP News) – International donors at this week's New Delhi conference on avian and pandemic influenza pledged about $406 million, including $195 million from the United States, to fight H5N1 avian flu, according to news reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Health experts who investigated Europe's first chikungunya outbreak involving transmission by local mosquitoes recently reported that cases could occur again next spring unless vigorous mosquito surveillance and eradication measures are used to control the disease in Italyand prevent its spread to other parts of Europe.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent outbreak of the debilitating tropical disease known as chikungunya fever in northern Italy apparently marks the mosquito-borne infection's first foothold in Europe, according to European health authorities.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health officials in India announced today that samples from chickens at a poultry farm in the remote northeastern Manipur state were positive for the H5N1 avian flu virus, signaling the country's first outbreak in more than a year.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today recognized 15 H5N1 avian influenza cases from Indonesia dating back to late January, a few weeks after the country stopped sending H5N1 virus samples to the WHO as a protest against developing nations' lack of equal access to pandemic vaccines.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia's health ministry reported today that a 26-year-old pregnant woman who died 2 days ago tested positive for H5N1 avian flu, making her the country's second fatality in as many weeks.

The woman, who was 4 months pregnant, died at a hospital in Medan in North Sumatra, a health ministry official identified as Joko told Agence France Presse (AFP).

(CIDRAP News) – In an effort to improve developing countries' access to potential pandemic influenza vaccines, the WHO (World Health Organization) said today it is awarding grants to six countries to help them develop the capacity to make flu vaccine.