News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Health ministries in China and Egypt reported four new human H5N1 avian influenza cases over the past few days, including three from different parts of China, two of which were fatal.

Today's World Health Organization (WHO) confirmation of a case in a 2-year-old Egyptian girl pushed the global H5N1 case count to 400. If the WHO confirms all of the new cases and deaths, the total will rise to 403 cases, 254 of them fatal.

(CIDRAP News) – Veterinary authorities in Egypt today reported H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in two governorates, as Chinese officials beefed up their avian flu reporting system and took other measures to limit human exposure to the virus.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States will contribute another $44.4 million to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO's) campaign to prevent and control avian influenza, the FAO announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Many countries have improved their responses to H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in poultry in the past year, but the disease remains entrenched in six countries, according to a new report from the United Nations and the World Bank.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday confirmed Laos' first human case of H5N1 avian influenza, involving a 15-year-old girl from Vientiane, and Egypt and China also have reported new cases.

(CIDRAP News) – Mallard ducks in Maryland tested positive for low-pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, and initial tests pointed to the same findings in Pennsylvania mallards, federal officials said late last week.

Tests ruled out the lethal form of H5N1 virus that has spread through birds in much of Asia and parts of Europe and Africa in the past 3 years, officials said.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that a 30-year-old man who died in late April was Indonesia's 25th avian influenza fatality.

(CIDRAP News) – China reported its 18th human case of H5N1 avian influenza today as Ivory Coast awaited the results of tests that will tell whether it is Africa's latest country faced with outbreaks in poultry.

(CIDRAP News) – Testing by the World Health Organization has failed to detect the H5N1 avian influenza virus in a Sudanese man suspected of having it, while China's latest H5N1 patient has died, according to reports published today.