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(CIDRAP News) – Adults who are hospitalized with serious seasonal influenza infections are more likely to survive if they receive antiviral medications, and older patients may benefit even if treatment is delayed until more than 48 hours after their first symptoms, according to a new study by Canadian researchers.

(CIDRAP News) – The avian influenza virus found this week in turkeys at a farm in Suffolk, England, is the lethal H5N1 variety, veterinary officials announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – A 31-year-old Indonesian man recently died of H5N1 avian influenza, pushing the country's death toll from the disease to 91, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Veterinary officials in England today announced an avian influenza outbreak in turkeys at a farm in Norfolk, after initial tests showed that the birds were positive for an H5 strain of the virus.

(CIDRAP News) – Deliveries of seasonal influenza vaccine have already outpaced the number of doses ever distributed in a single season, officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today, but they voiced concerns about a possible mismatch of one of the strains.

(CIDRAP News) – Officials in Vietnam recently reported H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks at farms in two more provinces, bringing to six the number of provinces hit by the virus since early October.

(CIDRAP News) – Starting tomorrow, US inspection and testing of imported Canadian meat and poultry products will roughly double and will include a category of beef products that has not previously been subject to testing, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a guide to help communities retool their health-related call centers into systems for meeting the needs of the public in homes or shelters during emergencies such as a pandemic or bioterrorist attack.

(CIDRAP News) – A new food protection plan from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), released yesterday as part of a comprehensive import safety plan, places a heavy emphasis on preventing food contamination by enlisting other groups to help the agency focus inspection efforts on high-risk food products.

(CIDRAP News) – Health experts who investigated Europe's first chikungunya outbreak involving transmission by local mosquitoes recently reported that cases could occur again next spring unless vigorous mosquito surveillance and eradication measures are used to control the disease in Italyand prevent its spread to other parts of Europe.

(CIDRAP News) – A new food protection plan released by the Bush administration today proposes giving the Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) the power to require companies to recall unsafe foods, among a number of other steps.

(CIDRAP News) – In the wake of evidence that Canadian beef contributed to recent Escherichia coli cases in the United States, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced plans to increase testing of Canadian meat and poultry products before they can cross the border.

(CIDRAP News) – A 30-year-old Indonesian woman died of H5N1 avian influenza on Nov 3, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

The woman was from the same city as Indonesia's three previous H5N1 case-patients—Tangerang in Banten province, just west of Jakarta. Her death raises the number of WHO-confirmed H5N1 cases in Indonesia to 112 and the death toll to 90.

(CIDRAP News) – The federal government should step up efforts to prepare the nation's key infrastructure industries, such as energy and transportation, for an influenza pandemic, Congress's investigative agency said in a report this week.

(CIDRAP News) –Officials in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam have reported new outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry this week.

In Bangladesh, an official from the government's livestock department said the H5N1 virus was detected at three farms in the northern part of the country, Reuters reported today. Workers culled about 6,000 chickens, which were buried over the last 2 days, the report said.

Editor's note: This is the last in a seven-part series investigating the prospects for development of vaccines to head off the threat of an influenza pandemic posed by the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The series puts promising advances in vaccine technology in perspective by illuminating the formidable barriers to producing large amounts of an effective and widely usable vaccine in a short time.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States, Canada, and Mexico yesterday vowed to help each other during public health emergencies and outlined the types of aid they could provide and accept from each other in the event of a pandemic or other infectious disease outbreak.

Editor's note: This is the sixth in a seven-part series investigating the prospects for development of vaccines to head off the threat of an influenza pandemic posed by the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The series puts promising advances in vaccine technology in perspective by illuminating the formidable barriers to producing large amounts of an effective and widely usable vaccine in a short time.

(CIDRAP News) – General Mills recalled about 414,000 cases of frozen pizza today after health officials said it could be linked to an Escherichia coli outbreak that has sickened 21 people in 10 states.

(CIDRAP News) – The US government's attempt to add a next-generation anthrax vaccine to its stockpile failed because of a premature contract award, unrealistic expectations, and confusion about how the vaccine would be used, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative agency of Congress.