News & Perspective

Editor's note: This story was revised Dec 30 to make clear that as of Dec 29, only two cases in the outbreak had been confirmed as Ebola. During the DRC's 2007 outbreak the government confirmed 17 cases, down from 25 it reported earlier, and initial reports during that outbreak mentioned as many as 395 suspected Ebola cases.  Some of the suspected patients had other diseases, including shigellosis.

An official in the west African country of Togo confirmed today that poultry have tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus, raising the number of African nations hit by the virus to 10.

(CIDRAP News) – Final tests confirmed that a mild strain of H5N1 avian influenza virus, not the deadly type, was found in wild mallard ducks in Maryland last month, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – A 2-year-old girl from a small rural village in Djibouti, on the border of Somalia, has been found to have the country's first case of H5N1 avian influenza, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(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.