Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – Veterinary officials in India recently confirmed that the H5N1 avian influenza virus has struck poultry in a second state, Tripura, as animal health authorities in South Korea announced a new outbreak at a duck farm near where the virus was confirmed a few days ago after a year's hiatus.

(CIDRAP News) – A 19-year-old Egyptian man died of H5N1 avian influenza Apr 5, raising the country's H5N1 toll to 48 cases with 21 deaths, according to news services.

The man was from the Nile Delta province of Beheira and had been exposed to infected poultry at home, said reports by Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Bloomberg News.

(CIDRAP News) – Agriculture officials in South Korea today confirmed that large numbers of chicken deaths at a commercial farm in the southwestern part of the country were caused by H5N1 avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) yesterday approved the country's first prepandemic H5N1 influenza vaccine, an inactivated whole-virus product made by Sinovac, a Beijing-based biotechnology company.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed two more cases of H5N1 avian influenza from a family cluster that surfaced in Pakistan last fall, supporting the previous finding that the virus probably spread among four brothers but went no further.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia's health ministry today announced fatal H5N1 avian influenza infections in two young people, aged 11 and 15, and said a 22-month-old girl is hospitalized with an H5N1 infection.

If the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms the three cases, its human H5N1 count for Indonesia will reach 132 cases with 107 deaths.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health officials in Switzerland today said samples from an asymptomatic duck were positive for H5N1 avian influenza, as officials in India announced a poultry outbreak in another district in West Bengal state.

(CIDRAP News) – High concentrations of ducks, rice fields, and human populations—rather than chickens—pose the highest risk of sparking deadly H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in Southeast Asia, according to a recent study.

(CIDRAP News) – The first of three US-funded supply stockpiles aimed at helping authorities in Asia stamp out avian influenza outbreaks opened near Bangkok today.

Eric John, the US ambassador to Thailand, spoke at a ceremony to open a Regional Distribution Center (RDC) in Chachoengsao province, in eastern Thailand, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – A progress report released today says the US government has stockpiled enough prepandemic H5N1 influenza vaccine for 13 million people, more than double the number listed in the previous report, issued last July.