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(CIDRAP News) – Three more cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Vietnam, one of them fatal, were confirmed over the weekend and today, sparking concern over a more widespread outbreak, according to numerous news service reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The fight against avian flu is becoming more urgent and the price tag is climbing, experts said in the wake of the second international conference on the H5N1 flu.

(CIDRAP News) – An analysis of 24 studies yielded no clear evidence that influenza vaccines prevent flu in children younger than 2 years old, though they work reasonably well in older children, according to a new report in The Lancet.

(CIDRAP News) – Knowledge of the local epidemiology of tularemia can help healthcare providers identify the disease and recommend locally appropriate prevention and control steps, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – An intravenous form of vaccinia immune globulin (VIG), used to treat serious reactions to smallpox vaccine, has gained approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time.

(CIDRAP News) – Warnings that H5N1 avian influenza could touch off a human flu pandemic rose in intensity as a major conference on the problem opened today in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, according to news services.

"We at WHO [the World Health Organization] believe that the world is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic," Dr. Shigeru Omi, the WHO's Western Pacific regional director, was quoted as saying.

(CIDRAP News) – The idea that vaccinating schoolchildren is the best way to prevent influenza throughout the US population received a boost last week with the publication of a commentary and a Texas study in separate journals.

(CIDRAP News) – The nation's top disease-control official proclaimed in a speech in Washington, DC, today that avian influenza is the single biggest threat the world faces right now, according to wire service reports.

(CIDRAP News) – An unusual outbreak of pneumonic plague that has killed at least 61 people and potentially sickened hundreds of others is the focus of a World Health Organization (WHO) mission in a war-torn area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) official confirmed today that the agency is working on a report suggesting that governments consider stockpiling H5N1 avian influenza vaccines, but he stressed that such a stockpile "would not solve the problem" if a flu pandemic emerges.

(CIDRAP News) – A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee voted yesterday to add the new A/California strain to next season's influenza vaccine, amid doubts about the nation's ability to acquire an adequate supply.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to recommend that governments consider stockpiling vaccines against the H5N1 avian influenza virus now, rather than waiting until a human flu pandemic emerges, according to a story published online today by New Scientist magazine.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers who tracked national data on influenza vaccination rates and mortality in elderly people from 1968 through 2001 say they could find no evidence that flu shots reduced death rates.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers studying acute encephalitis cases in Vietnam discovered an unexpected cause of death in a 4-year-old boy, and possibly his 9-year-old sister: avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – Vietnamese and international officials concerned that the Lunar New Year would encourage the spread of avian influenza had some good news: the travel-heavy holiday didn't bring any new reports of human cases, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended adding a new influenza strain that emerged recently in California to the flu vaccine for 2005-06 in the Northern Hemisphere.

(CIDRAP News) – The investigation of Canada's third case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, suggests that the cow ate feed contaminated with banned materials, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

(CIDRAP News) – The Thai government has announced plans to cull about 2.7 million free-range ducks to stem the spread of avian influenza, the Bangkok Post reported today.

Ducks have been found to shed high levels of the H5N1 virus without appearing ill. The national avian flu committee agreed in principle yesterday to cull free-range ducks, the newspaper reported.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza vaccine doses intended for those at highest risk for serious complications from the flu made it into the arms of the right people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta said yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The Bush administration has proposed cutting funds that support state and local preparedness for bioterrorism and other health emergencies in fiscal year 2006, drawing protests from public health advocacy groups.

However, the proposal for the fiscal year that begins next October would increase funding for the nation's emergency stockpile of drugs and medical supplies by more than 50%. The budget was released Feb 7.