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(CIDRAP News) – Researchers who analyzed a family cluster of three cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Thailand say in an article published today that two family members probably acquired the disease from the third.

(CIDRAP News) – Three more confirmed human cases of H5N1 avian influenza—two of them fatal—have been reported in Vietnam since Jan 21.

The latest cases, which involved a teenager and a man and woman in their 30s, bring the number of confirmed fatal cases in Vietnam since late December to nine, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The next infectious disease to enter the United States might cross the border taped to a traveler's leg or tucked snugly under a tourist's hat.

Smuggling of wild animals has always posed hazards to human health, but the stakes may be getting higher today, given the role of animal hosts in lethal outbreaks such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – Authorities are investigating the possibility of human-to-human transmission of avian influenza in two newly confirmed cases in middle-aged brothers in northern Vietnam, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Several healthcare professionals have been suspended and an Arizona company has been shut down in the investigation launched last November when four Floridians were paralyzed by injections with a botulinum toxin not approved for use in humans.

(CIDRAP News) – The death of an 18-year-old woman from a southern province was Vietnam's sixth avian influenza death since late December, Vietnamese officials were quoted as saying today.

The young woman, who died in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday after 13 days in a hospital there, was from Tien Gang, Health Ministry spokesman Tran Duc Long told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

(CIDRAP News) – A recent exercise that confronted international leaders with a hypothetical smallpox attack showed the potential for tensions between countries that have enough smallpox vaccine and those that don't, according to news reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today added two more cases to its tally of confirmed human cases of H5N1 avian flu in Vietnam, and WHO officials reportedly said another 10 suspected cases are under investigation there.

Jan 14, 2004 (CIDRAP News) – One of the worst fears of infectious disease experts is that the H5N1 avian influenza virus now circulating in parts of Asia will combine with a human-adapted flu virus to create a deadly new flu virus that could spread around the world.

(CIDRAP News) – Vietnamese health officials today confirmed the fourth human case of avian influenza in Vietnam since December, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

The patient is an 18-year-old woman from the southern province of Tien Giang who is hospitalized in critical condition, the WHO said. She became ill Jan 1 and was hospitalized Jan 5, the agency said.

(CIDRAP News) – As a result of a federal court ruling that stopped the US military's anthrax vaccination program last October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is asking for public comments on its finding that the anthrax vaccine is safe and effective.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of avian influenza outbreaks among poultry in Vietnam has been growing quickly, according to reports from the region.

The Vietnam Veterinary Department said outbreaks had been reported in 20 communes and 15 districts of seven cities and provinces, primarily in southern Vietnam, by Jan 9, according to a Voice of Vietnam news story posted online on that date.

(CIDRAP News) – Canada today reported its third confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), just 9 days after confirming its second case.

The case was in an Alberta beef cow just under 7 years old, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said. "No part of the animal has entered the human food or animal feed systems," the agency said.

(CIDRAP News) – As Vietnam grapples with the implications of a third human death from H5N1 avian flu in less than 2 weeks, neighboring countries are ramping up surveillance and intervention.

(CIDRAP News) – Investigators of Canada's second case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have determined that 38 cattle might have been exposed to the same feed as the infected cow and that one of those was exported to the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – The new recommendation to vaccinate children between 6 and 23 months old could have been lost in the hubbub of the influenza vaccine shortage this season. Yet authorities are terming this year's vaccination rates a success story.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) yesterday issued a lengthy plan to outline and standardize how the federal government will respond to major emergencies ranging from bioterrorism to natural disasters.

(CIDRAP News) – The death of a 6-year-old Vietnamese boy from avian influenza was reported today, marking the second fatal case reported in Vietnam this week.

The boy, from the southern province of Dong Thap, died just 3 hours after being hospitalized with a high fever and respiratory failure Dec 30, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.

(CIDRAP News) – A 3-year-old Colorado boy fell ill with tularemia after a bite from a pet hamster last year in the first documented case of its kind in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – A new study of human cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Thailand suggests that a number of cases might have gone undetected and that the disease may prey on children disproportionately.