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(CIDRAP News) – Indonesian officials announced today that a 15-year-old girl from Central Java died of H5N1 avian influenza this week, as the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that it received two human H5N1 samples from China, ending a nearly year-long delay in sharing promised samples.

(CIDRAP News) – As information piled up in the case of a man with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis (TB) who took multiple international air trips, it was revealed today that he is a lawyer and the son-in-law of a microbiologist who studies TB at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released a detailed report on the recent nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to certain peanut butter brands, showing the number of sick patients has grown by nearly 200 since the agency's last update in March.

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials in Indonesia reported today that a 45-year-old man from Central Java province died of H5N1 avian influenza, marking the country's second fatal case in less than 2 weeks.

Joko Suyono of the Indonesian health ministry's avian flu center said the man was hospitalized May 17 and died 2 days ago, Reuters reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – VaxGen Inc., which lost an $877.5 million contract with the US government for a new anthrax vaccine in December, announced May 24 it was stopping development of the vaccine and said it hopes to license the product to another company.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia's health minister said yesterday that Baxter Healthcare Corp would launch a clinical trial of an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine in Indonesia in July, according to news reports, but a Baxter official said the company has not announced any clinical trials.

(CIDRAP News) - Four people in Wales and northwest England have tested positive for the low-pathogenic H7N2 avian influenza subtype found last week in chickens at a small farm in Wales, and local public health authorities suspect some degree of human-to-human transmission of the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – A 19-year-old Chinese soldier is being treated for H5N1 avian influenza, while a woman who was diagnosed with the disease in February has left the hospital after months of treatment, according to reports from China.

(CIDRAP News) – In a rare action, federal health authorities have ordered an Atlanta man who has extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) into isolation and are looking for people who recently flew with him so they can be tested for the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – Farmers, airlines, and salmon fishermen stood to benefit when Congress passed a modestly trimmed emergency spending bill yesterday, but pandemic influenza preparedness lost out.

(CIDRAP News) – Some of the H5N1 avian flu virus samples from human cases that China has promised to send to a World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory have arrived in the United States, apparently ending an almost year-long lapse in sample sharing.

The world of pandemic influenza preparedness this past week experienced another roller-coaster ride of public attention—and a lack thereof.

(CIDRAP News) – Veterinary officials in Wales confirmed a low pathogenic H7N2 avian influenza outbreak today at a farm near the northern town of Denbighshire, a day after Nigeria reported its first H5N1 avian flu outbreak since late January.

(CIDRAP News) – As expected, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved a resolution on the sharing of influenza viruses and access to pandemic vaccines just before adjourning its annual meeting of member countries today.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia announced today that a 5-year-old girl died of H5N1 avian influenza, while a hospital official in Vietnam reported that a 30-year-old man is being treated for the disease, apparently marking the country's first human case in a year and a half.

(CIDRAP News) – H5N1 avian influenza has continued to flare up in poultry on two continents this week, with Vietnam, Ghana, and Pakistan all confirming new outbreaks in the past 2 days.

In Vietnam over the weekend, more than 2,000 ducks died, and another 6,000 were culled in various areas affected by outbreaks of H5N1, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported yesterday. The ducks had not been vaccinated.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has negotiated a preliminary agreement designed to maintain the international sharing of influenza virus samples while ensuring that developing countries can obtain pandemic flu vaccines, news services reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – To encourage the public to join discussions on pandemic influenza preparedness, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today launched a 5-week blog on the topic in conjunction with a Jun 13 leadership forum.

(CIDRAP News) – Experts predict that an influenza pandemic will place a long and heavy burden on the medical community, which prompted the US Department of Labor (DOL) to develop guidance for healthcare worker safety that it released today at a press conference.

(CIDRAP News) – In the first half of 2007, countries reported fewer migratory bird deaths from the H5N1 avian influenza virus, but the virus is still circulating among poultry flocks in several countries, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said today.