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(CIDRAP News) – The deaths of nine people in Idaho this year are being investigated as possible cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), a rare, fatal brain-wasting illness.

(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said yesterday it would set up a team to "kick start" avian influenza control efforts in Indonesia, which has been criticized for its response to the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – While international officials today confirmed three more human deaths from the H5N1 avian flu virus, several countries battled new outbreaks in poultry.

(CIDRAP News) – Seasonal influenza shots are not just for high-risk groups anymore, and everyone interested in a shot should go ahead and seek one out, federal health officials said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The 7-year-old son of a Thai farmer who died 2 days ago of H5N1 avian influenza also has the virus, but there is no evidence that the boy caught it from his father, according to news services.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports said the boy tested positive for the virus, but they didn't say what test was used or where it was done. The boy is hospitalized but is expected to recover.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which recently reconstructed the 1918 pandemic influenza virus for research purposes, has classified the virus as a "select agent," imposing special rules on groups that handle it.

(CIDRAP News) – A 48-year-old Thai man who died yesterday had H5N1 avian influenza, marking Thailand's first human case in more than a year, according to Thai officials and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The man, who fell ill after slaughtering sick chickens, had the first case in Thailand since Oct 8, 2004, the WHO said. Thailand has had 18 confirmed cases, including 13 deaths, since the current wave of H5N1 outbreaks began in late 2003.

(CIDRAP News) – The US government has issued about $60 million in contracts to spur development of a vaccine against tularemia, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced recently.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of NIH, has issued two 5-year contracts for vaccine work, the agency said earlier this month. The agency also awarded $87 million in grants to build four biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) labs.

(CIDRAP News) – New avian influenza outbreaks were reported today in European Russia, China, and Vietnam, as experts said recent outbreaks in Turkey and Romania have strengthened the suspicion that migratory birds are spreading the H5N1 virus.

In addition, avian flu was suspected in a Thai man who died of a lung infection after killing and eating chickens that might have had the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – Chiron Corp. said this week its influenza vaccine production this year probably will be lower than the previous estimate of 18 million to 26 million doses, but officials wouldn't predict how much lower.

(CIDRAP News) – A study that tracked influenza cases by age-groups found that preschoolers led the annual parade of flu-related doctor visits, with sick adults following about 29 days later.

(CIDRAP News) – The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche announced today it would build a plant in the United States to make oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and also consider licensing other companies to make the drug in the face of a possible flu pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – A sample taken from a turkey on a remote Greek island contained an H5 virus, Reuters news service reported this afternoon.

The specific strain has not yet been identified, and the sample was sent for further testing, Greek authorities said.

(CIDRAP News) – The lethal avian flu virus that's prompting concerns about a human pandemic has officially been found in Romania, authorities confirmed over the weekend.

A British laboratory testing the Romanian samples found H5N1 in three birds that had been found dead in the Danube delta, according to Reuters news service on Oct 15.

(CIDRAP News) – A report published today by scientists who isolated an H5N1 virus resistant to oseltamivir from a infected Vietnamese girl further fuels concern over preparedness for a potential and widely anticipated pandemic caused by the strain.

(CIDRAP News) – The avian influenza virus long established in Southeast Asia has reached Europe's doorstep, with confirmation today that a lethal virus in Turkey is H5N1 and that an H5 strain in Romania is still being subtyped.

(CIDRAP News) – Armed with full federal approval for the first time in more than a year, Chiron Corp. says it may start shipping influenza vaccine to US distributors next week.

Chiron's first shipments since contamination problems blocked the company's vaccine shipments last year could help ease vaccine shortages caused by slow deliveries, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official said.

(CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of illness among cruise ship passengers in Alaska in 2004 led to the detection of disease-causing oysters about 620 miles farther north than they had ever been found before, possibly as a result of warming ocean waters.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent and extensive review of research on H5N1 avian influenza in humans shows the illness differs from ordinary flu in several ways, besides the most obvious fact that it is far more deadly.

The report by a World Health Organization (WHO) committee says avian flu may have a longer incubation period and is more likely to cause diarrhea than typical flu viruses are, among other differences.

(CIDRAP News) – Avian flu extended its reach into new territory by spreading to Turkey and possibly Romania in the past week, while Indonesians face another suspected human case of H5N1 flu and allegations of vaccine-related fraud.