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(CIDRAP News) – Positive results from a human vaccine against the H5N1 avian flu that is the prime candidate for causing the next influenza pandemic came out of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this weekend. Still, the challenges to producing such a vaccine in the quantities needed in an actual pandemic lend a dose of reality to the news.

(CIDRAP News) – Reports from China today put the number of human cases of the baffling disease spreading through pigs in several areas at high as 212, with some 134 people still hospitalized and at least 14 considered critical. The number of deaths so far stands at 38.

(CIDRAP News) – Three more cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Vietnam, two of them fatal, were officially recognized today by the World Health Organization (WHO) after confirmation came from that country's Health Ministry, bringing the count to 90 cases with 40 deaths.

(CIDRAP News) –Weather and soil conditions in several areas of the United States are leading to record livestock losses from anthrax. This summer, approximately 400 animals have died in North and South Dakota, Texas, and Minnesota.

(CIDRAP News) – What looked like the possible third case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States has now been confirmed as a false alarm, leaving the number of domestic cattle infected with the disease at two, with one of those being Canadian-born.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers relying on mathematical modeling claim that early containment of pandemic influenza, an eventuality widely accepted as not an "if" but a "when," may well be attainable through targeted public health strategies. A leading public health expert, however, cautions against viewing these study results as fodder for relaxed planning efforts, stressing the myriad variables that would come into play.

(CIDRAP News) – Mass culling of domestic poultry in 13 villages in the Novosibirsk province of Russia is reportedly being carried out today. In addition, thousands of area families are being checked daily for illness, and farmers have been ordered to wear protective garments in an effort to contain the avian influenza outbreak there.

(CIDRAP News) – Reports on the mysterious pig-borne disease spreading among humans in China are numerous, with the number of cases closing in on 200 and fatalities standing at 34.

Editor's note: This story was revised July 31 to clarify information about previous reports of H5N1 influenza viruses in Russia.

(CIDRAP News) – News services said today the avian influenza outbreak reported last week in Russia involves the dangerous H5N1 strain, while two more fatal human cases of the illness were reported in Vietnam.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to ban the use of the antibiotic enrofloxacin (Baytril) in poultry because of the risk that it promotes drug-resistant bacteria that can be harmful to humans.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials said yesterday that testing of a 12-year-old cow yielded possible signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and that further tests are being conducted to clarify whether the disease was present.

The carcass was destroyed and did not enter the human food or animal feed chain, said Dr. John Clifford, chief veterinarian for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). He did not disclose where the cow lived.

(CIDRAP News) – A puzzling disease outbreak linked to pigs in southwestern China has expanded to 152 cases with 31 deaths, more than double the number of cases reported 3 days ago, according to Chinese news services.

(CIDRAP News) –About 100 people who gave blood to three people in Britain who later fell ill with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are being warned that they may have an increased risk of carrying the vCJD agent.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesian investigators found the H5N1 avian influenza virus in chicken droppings near the home of three people who died of the virus this month, according to a report published yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – A large-scale study of genetic data on influenza shows that viruses of the same strain or serotype have more genetic differences than previously suspected and can exchange genetic material in ways that make them more infectious.

(CIDRAP News) – In a response to Indonesia's first three fatal human cases of avian influenza, officials killed some infected pigs and poultry yesterday, but not as many as they had planned to, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – A Russian official has identified the avian influenza virus that has been killing poultry in Siberia as H5N2, a strain that is not dangerous to humans.

But another Russian official reported to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) yesterday that the virus had not yet been fully identified. The poultry outbreaks in the Novosibirsk region of southwestern Siberia were first reported last week.

(CIDRAP News) – A news report from Russia today said that an H5 strain of avian influenza has killed hundreds of poultry in Siberia, though a Russian report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said the disease was still unidentified.

(CIDRAP News) – Genetic mutations in monkeypox viruses of West African origin might have spared the lives of people infected with the virus in the United States, according to a recent report.

Though primarily a disease of rodents and nonhuman primates, monkeypox can occasionally spread to humans and cause a smallpox-like illness. In the summer of 2003, an outbreak of the disease occurred in six Midwestern states.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials say a new West Nile virus (WNV) vaccine for horses, licensed this week, represents a breakthrough that may lead to important benefits for human vaccine development.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the vaccine is the world's first licensed DNA vaccine—one that uses small pieces of the target virus's genetic material instead of using a weakened or killed form of the whole virus.