Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – David Nabarro, influenza coordinator for the United Nations (UN), said during a press conference yesterday that the world is better prepared to respond to an influenza pandemic, but he added that continuing outbreaks in some countries are a reminder that a major threat remains.

(CIDRAP News) – Australian authorities have approved an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine made by the Australian-based pharmaceutical company CSL Limited, giving the country a home-grown defensive tool if the virus evolves into a pandemic strain.

(CIDRAP News) – China's agriculture ministry today announced an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak at a village in Guangdong province, not far from Hong Kong, where officials recently found the virus in live-bird markets.

(CDIRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded two contracts worth a total of $12.9 million to develop influenza tests, with the aim of making it possible to distinguish seasonal from avian flu viruses within 3 hours.

(CIDRAP News) – An Indonesian woman died of H5N1 avian influenza 10 days ago, but her case has not yet been publicly confirmed by the government, which is continuing to withhold information about avian flu cases, the Associated Press (AP) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – A pharmaceutical company is reporting good results in the first clinical trial of an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine that uses a whole, killed H5N1 virus grown in cell culture—a combination of techniques that entails some risk but may boost immune response and shorten production time.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health workers in Hong Kong are culling all chickens in the city's markets and retail stores after finding the H5N1 avian influenza virus in three more markets, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – Authorities in Hong Kong recently reported finding H5N1 avian influenza at a poultry market, marking the first detection of the virus in poultry there in more than 2 years.

(CIDRAP News) – The first real test of a new program to screen some arriving passengers at the Honolulu airport for flu-like illness went smoothly this week, according to an official with the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH).

(CIDRAP News) – The avian influenza virus that struck chickens on a farm in England this week has been identified as highly pathogenic H7N7 and is probably related to viruses that have sometimes surfaced in other European countries, British officials said today.