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(CIDRAP News) – In an apparent policy shift, Indonesia promised today to freely share genetic data on H5N1 avian influenza viruses, according to a Bloomberg news report.

That announcement comes 2 days after the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) pledged to "systematically" publish avian flu virus sequences and urged others to follow suit.

(CIDRAP News) – Concern about H5N1 avian influenza intensified in Thailand and Vietnam today as health officials reported more suspected human cases, but Indonesian officials said six people in two suspected case clusters in North Sumatra tested negative.

(CIDRAP News) – Seven people in Karo district of North Sumatra, Indonesia, are being treated for suspected H5N1 avian influenza, raising concern that the disease may have resurfaced near where human-to-human transmission was documented in an extended family in May.

(CIDRAP News) – Amid a rising number of cases of suspected avian flu in birds and humans, Thailand's health minister yesterday declared that all of the country's provinces are on alert, triggering tighter rules on bird transport and disposal.

(CIDRAP News) – For the seventh year in a row, cases of tularemia are being reported on Martha's Vineyard, where six cases of the rare respiratory form of the disease have occurred so far.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) in a Jul 27 press release said that the patients, ages 33 to 67, became ill between May 13 and Jul 5. All have been successfully treated and are recovering. Four of the six are employed as landscapers.

(CIDRAP News) – The US government announced Jul 28 that it will add 10,000 courses of anthrax immune globulin (AIG) to the strategic national stockpile.

(CIDRAP News) – In an experiment designed to mimic events that could launch an influenza pandemic, a synthetic influenza virus made by combining an H5N1 avian flu virus with a human flu virus turned out to be no more contagious in an animal model than the natural H5N1 virus, US scientists are reporting this week.

(CIDRAP News) – A Thai province is culling 300,000 chickens after a laboratory test confirmed an avian influenza outbreak, and the country's health ministry is monitoring 80 patients who are suspected of having avian flu.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers who studied Iowa duck hunters and wildlife workers have reported the first laboratory evidence of transmission of an avian influenza virus from wild birds to humans, though not the deadly H5N1 strain.

(CIDRAP News) – Laos has reported its first major outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in more than 2 years, on a poultry farm in an area bordering part of Thailand that has recently been hit by the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – Washington state health officials said yesterday that 60 people have become ill after eating raw oysters from the state's coastal waters in recent weeks, well above the normal reported total for a whole year.

(CIDRAP News) – An H5N1 avian influenza vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) triggered a good immune response in human volunteers at a much lower dose than other H5N1 vaccines reported so far, which means that hundreds of millions of doses could be produced by next year, the company announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed today that a 17-year-old boy who died on Jul 24 in the Phichit province of northern Thailand had H5N1 avian influenza, marking the country's first case this year.

The WHO statement said the case was confirmed by Thailand's Ministry of Health. The country had not recorded a human H5N1 case since December; its toll now stands at 23 cases with 15 deaths.

(CIDRAP News) – Three international health agencies announced yesterday the launch of a joint early warning system to allow a quicker response to animal diseases that can spread to humans (zoonoses).

(CIDRAP News) – Pharmaceutical maker Roche has drawn sharp criticism for promoting the sale of its antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to businesses while governments stockpiling the drug for defense against a possible flu pandemic wait to receive their own supplies, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.

(CIDRAP News) – Thailand is facing its first outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in birds in 8 months, along with flu-like illnesses in a number of people in areas with sick birds, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a new position that involves directing the evaluation of products for emerging and pandemic disease threats and has named veteran staff member Mark Goldberger, MD, MPH, to fill it.

Goldberger has been appointed "medical director for emerging and pandemic disease threats" in the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), the agency announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – In the wake of two outbreaks of Salmonella infection involving 29 cases, Minnesota health officials are warning the public to be careful when cooking frozen, pre-browned chicken entrees.

The outbreaks prompted state health and agriculture officials yesterday to "strongly advise" people not to cook stuffed chicken entrees in microwave ovens because of the risk of uneven and incomplete cooking.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday announced a contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) that will allow states to add the influenza drug zanamivir (Relenza) to their federally subsidized antiviral stockpiles.

(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) reference laboratory confirmed today that a 44-year-old man who died on Jul 12 near Jakarta had H5N1 avian influenza.

The WHO announcement brings Indonesia’s official avian flu toll to 54 cases with 42 deaths. The country is now tied with Vietnam for the most deaths.