Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – The global H5N1 avian influenza situation in birds improved in the first half of this year, but an H5N1 strain not previously seen in Africa recently cropped up in Nigeria, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

(CIDRAP News) – An official from Indonesia's health ministry recently confirmed that a 19-year-old man died from an H5N1 avian influenza infection.

Nyoman Kandun, director general of communicable diseases at the health ministry, said the man died last week in a hospital west of Jakarta, according to an Aug 2 report from the Associated Press (AP).

(CIDRAP News) – Two pharmaceutical companies that are developing a second-generation version of the inhaled antiviral drug zanamivir (Relenza) reported promising phase 2 results showing that one dose was as effective against influenza as a course of oseltamivir (Tamiflu).

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health officials in Nigeria today reported finding the H5N1 avian influenza virus at two live bird markets, as officials in Hong Kong announced they would go ahead with a buyout of poultry farmers and merchants to reduce the risk of H5N1 outbreaks in the city.

(CIDRAP News) – In the history of infectious diseases, coincidence plays an extraordinary role. In 1706, Cotton Mather purchased a slave named Onesimus who happened to come from a tribe that practiced variolation, and so smallpox prevention was introduced to North America.

(CIDRAP News) – A 38-year-old Indonesian man from a town near Jakarta recently died of H5N1 avian influenza, according to an Associated Press (AP) report citing his family and health workers.

(CIDRAP News) – Recent reports from Indonesian health officials tie the high fatality rate in human H5N1 influenza cases there to the difficulty of diagnosing the disease, late treatment with antiviral drugs, and a shortage of well-equipped hospitals.

(CIDRAP News) – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report examining the results several developed nations and the European Union achieved when they consolidated oversight of food safety in a single agency, a step often advocated in the United State for solving some of the problems linked to contaminated imported and domestic food.

(CIDRAP News) – In a recent medical journal article, Indonesian officials detailed the rationale for their refusal to share H5N1 influenza virus samples with the World Health Organization (WHO), asserting that it was in part a response to violations of the WHO's own guidelines by scientists and laboratories.

(CIDRAP News) – A poultry vaccine designed to protect chickens in Hong Kong from H5 avian influenza has lost effectiveness over the past 7 years of use, an expert told the Chinese media recently.