Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – An official from Vietnam's health ministry said today that a 27-year-old man whose samples recently tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza died of the disease last night, the country's second fatality in as many days.

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials in Vietnam reported today that the H5N1 virus has struck two men in two of the country's northern provinces, killing a 40-year-old and sickening a 27-year-old, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture is proposing a big increase in spending to protect the US food and agriculture system from terrorist threats and other disasters in fiscal year 2009, while seeking somewhat less money for avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – Agriculture officials in Laos have reported an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in poultry in a northwestern province, the country's first outbreak in about a year.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today reported that a 15-year-old girl from Indonesia is hospitalized in critical condition with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, a week after her mother's H5N1 illness was announced.

The girl, who is from West Jakarta, got sick on Feb 2 and was hospitalized 6 days later, according to a statement from the WHO. She is listed as Indonesia's 127th case-patient.

Editor's Note: CIDRAP's Public Health Practices online database showcases peer-reviewed practices, including useful tools to help others with their planning. This article is one of a biweekly series exploring the development of these practices. We hope that describing the process and context of these practices enhances pandemic planning.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made notable progress on plans to detect and contain H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in birds, but some management missteps at the agency could hamper its response capability, according to a recent audit by the department's inspector general.

(CIDRAP News) – Livestock officials in Bangladesh said H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks have now struck poultry in 35 of the country's 64 districts, as officials in India issued a statewide poultry ban in West Bengal, where outbreaks have recently flared in more than half of the districts.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed that a 29-year-old Indonesian woman recently died of H5N1 avian influenza and that another Indonesian, a 38-year-old woman, is hospitalized with the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – Two more patients in Indonesia have died of H5N1 avian influenza this week, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 102 out of 124 cases.

The patients, whose illnesses were reported previously, were a 31-year-old woman from East Jakarta, who died yesterday, and a 32-year-old man from Tangerang, who died Jan 29, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).