The agencies warned that H5N8 represents a serious threat, especially to less-wealthy European nations.
A third poultry farm in the Netherlands has been hit with avian flu, as Dutch authorities confirmed the H5N8 strain on the second affected farm, according to two separate Reuters stories today.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported another MERS-CoV case in the city of Al-Kharj, the fourth there in a week, as well a fatality in Taif, a city with a spate of cases over the fall season.
A new outbreak on a Dutch chicken farm involves an H5 subtype.
Several Pacific Islands are the only areas of the world with noteworthy influenza activity at present, as circulation in nearly all other areas remains low, typical for this time of year, according to yesterday's World Health Organization (WHO) biweekly update .
A 19-year-old Egyptian woman died today of H5N1 avian flu, an Egyptian health ministry spokesman said, and another person has contracted the disease, according to a Reuters report.
The woman died in a hospital in the southern part of Asyut governorate, which is in the central part of Egypt along the Nile River. She had contact with infected birds, the spokesman said.
H5N8 avian flu, which hit Korea hard earlier this year, is raising alarm in Europe.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported a new MERS-CoV case and the death of a previously reported patient. The new case brings the country's count of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases to 800.
A hospital cluster of five confirmed MERS-CoV cases in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been traced to a patient from Taif near Mecca, the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement today.
Strains of the H5N8 avian influenza virus may be easily transmitted by wild mallards and cause severe illness in domestic ducks, according to a study published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
