News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity remained low in the Northern Hemisphere last week, with only a few countries, such as Costa Rica and Cameroon, reporting spikes in the number of cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

Costa Rica is the only tropical country in the Americas to report increasing numbers of cases, which are primarily influenza A/H3N2, the WHO said.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity in the Southern Hemisphere has mostly returned to off-season levels, with only a few countries in tropical regions reporting significant activity, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – A few of the world's tropical countries are reporting active flu transmission, as the flu season continues in Australia and New Zealand, though activity is declining, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Though influenza activity is low in most nations, some are seeing active transmission, including Cuba, Bolivia, Cameroon, and parts of Southeast Asia, the World Health Organization said today in an update.

Cuba and El Salvador have reported increasing circulation of influenza A (H3N2), a strain that peaked in Honduras in the middle of August.

(CIDRAP News) – Officials from several agencies recently converged on Miami's international airport to take part in a full-scale exercise of the federal government's risk-based strategy to slow the spread of a future pandemic influenza virus across US borders.

(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) – Government officials in Laos today confirmed that the H5N1 avian influenza virus struck birds in a village in the northwestern part of the country, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – A 42-year-old woman from Laos' Vientiane province who died yesterday probably had H5N1 avian influenza, according to World Health Organization (WHO) officials. Confirmation of the case would mark the country's first human death from the disease.