Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – China's agriculture ministry said yesterday that it hasn't detected any poultry outbreaks in the provinces where recent human cases were reported, an apparent response to speculation that the country isn't reporting outbreaks and to suspicion about possible gaps in the surveillance system.

(CIDRAP News) – Today we are launching a new daily News Scan to help our readers keep up with the full range of current and noteworthy developments in emerging infectious diseases, biosecurity, foodborne diseases, influenza, other public health threats, and relevant policy issues.

(CIDRAP News) – Egypt's health ministry reported today that a 2-year-old boy from the northeastern part of the country has been hospitalized in stable condition with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) statement.

(CIDRAP News) – Veterinary officials in Vietnam and Egypt have found more H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, and officials in Hong Kong are investigating the source of infected poultry that have washed up on island beaches.

In Vietnam, animal health officials confirmed the virus in sick ducks in Soc Trang province, in the Mekong Delta region, Voice of Vietnam (VOV), the country's national radio station, reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health authorities in Canada yesterday announced that an H5N2 avian influenza virus was responsible for a recent mild illness outbreak on a commercial turkey farm in British Columbia's Fraser Valley.

(CIDRAP News) – At an Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) symposium in Washington, DC, today on seasonal and pandemic influenza, a group of experts fielded questions from reporters on some of the new trends and emerging issues, including prepandemic strategies for H5N1 avian influenza vaccines, now that some countries are stockpiling them.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health officials in Vietnam reported a new H5N1 avian influenza outbreak today in a duck flock in the southern part of the country, as veterinary workers in India and Bangladesh took measures to stop the virus's spread following new outbreaks in both countries.

(CIDRAP News) – China's health ministry recently revealed that a 21-year-old woman from Hunan province is hospitalized with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, the country's seventh case so far this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Minnesota health groups today unveiled two preliminary guidance reports designed to help the state make and implement difficult decisions about allocating scare resources such as antivirals, respirators, ventilators, and vaccines during a severe influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Health ministries in China and Egypt reported four new human H5N1 avian influenza cases over the past few days, including three from different parts of China, two of which were fatal.

Today's World Health Organization (WHO) confirmation of a case in a 2-year-old Egyptian girl pushed the global H5N1 case count to 400. If the WHO confirms all of the new cases and deaths, the total will rise to 403 cases, 254 of them fatal.