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(CIDRAP News) – An Indonesian man whose death was attributed to H5N1 avian influenza will bring Indonesia's death toll from the virus to 25, if his case is confirmed outside the country.

The man reportedly had come into contact with his neighbor's infected chickens in Tangerang, 25 miles west of Jakarta, according to a CNN.com story on Apr 28.

(CIDRAP News) – A mild form of avian influenza virus found on three poultry farms in Britain has infected one farm worker and prompted culls on the farms.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is hunting for 14 cattle that might have shared feed with Canada's latest cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

(CIDRAP News) – There is no practical way to clean disposable medical masks and N95 respirators to allow them to safely be reused if supplies run short in an influenza pandemic, a panel of experts at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has concluded.

(CIDRAP News) – After close to 2 years of expanded testing, the US government is estimating that there are between four and seven cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) among the nation's 42 million adult cattle.

"The data shows that the prevalence of BSE in the United States is extraordinarily low," US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Mike Johanns said at a teleconference this morning.

(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) – An agreement between US security and health agencies to share more data about travelers in order to keep infectious diseases out of the country has drawn criticism.

(CIDRAP News) – Food stores may soon be able to offer ground beef and other meat products treated with a mixture of harmless bacteria that reportedly can reduce common pathogens by 99% or more.

(CIDRAP News) – Scientists have come up with a new approach to neutralizing the toxin produced by anthrax bacteria and have tested it successfully in a small number of animals, according to a report published this week.

(CIDRAP News) – European countries' plans for coping with an influenza pandemic are generally good but have a number of gaps, including a lack of detail on distribution of drugs and supplies, according to an analysis published last week by The Lancet.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today recognized eight human cases of H5N1 avian influenza previously reported in Egypt, pushing the global case count to 204, with 113 deaths.

The Egyptian government has been reporting a total of 12 human cases, but until today the WHO had listed only 4 cases in Egypt.

(CIDRAP News) – About half of Americans lack confidence in their government's ability to handle an outbreak of avian influenza in humans, but few have prepared for the threat, according to a survey taken this week.

(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.

(CIDRAP News) – The nation's largest mumps epidemic in decades has reached well over 1,000 cases and will probably grow further before it ebbs, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) team is reported to be in Sudan today to help the impoverished country respond to H5N1 avian influenza, which was confirmed there for the first time yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The recent outbreak of botulism poisoning traced to bamboo shoots served at a religious festival in Thailand sickened 163 people, according to a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – A Chinese man in Hubei province has contracted the H5N1 avian influenza virus, while the pathogen has struck poultry in Sudan for the first time, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – Close to half of local public health workers who responded to a survey in three Maryland counties last year said they probably would not come to work during an influenza pandemic, according to a study published today.

(CIDRAP News) – A 6-year-old dairy cow in British Columbia, Canada, has been confirmed as that country's 5th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Testing conducted at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases in Winnipeg, Canada, showed the cow had BSE, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced yesterday. No part of the animal has entered the human food or animal feed chain, Canadian authorities said.

(CIDRAP News) – Poultry deaths due to the H5N1 avian influenza virus are spreading in some parts of the world as cases decline elsewhere.