Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – The European Union (EU) this week approved a "mock-up" influenza vaccine made by Novartis to permit a faster start on vaccine production in the event of a flu pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia reported today that a 29-year-old woman who died 4 days ago had H5N1 avian influenza, according to news services, signaling the first confirmed case anywhere in nearly a month.

The woman was admitted to a hospital in Medan in northern Sumatra May 1 and died May 3, according to an Agence France-Press (AFP) report quoting an official named Suhardaningrum of the national avian flu information center.

Editor's note: This story was revised May 8 to include a piece of additional information on testing of environmental samples.

(CIDRAP News) – US government agencies said today they will test fewer wild birds for the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the 2007 season than they did last season, while focusing on the highest-risk species and locations.

(CIDRAP News) – News services today reported the confirmation of H5N1 avian influenza on a chicken farm in Ghana, apparently making it the ninth African country to be hit by the virus.

Agriculture Minister Ernest Debrah said the outbreak was discovered Apr 24 on a farm near the port city of Tema, east of the capital, Accra, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.

(CIDRAP News) – A hypothetical but not unlikely scenario: Amid an influenza pandemic, a small hospital has three patients who need mechanical ventilation. One has terminal cancer, another has severe chronic lung disease, and a third has a severe case of flu. With only one ventilator available, which patient will get it?

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) says nations and vaccine manufacturers agreed yesterday that it may be feasible to set up a world stockpile of H5N1 influenza vaccine and find a way to ensure that developing countries could access pandemic flu vaccine supplies.

(CIDRAP News) – The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche announced today it is scaling back production of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) because of waning demand, and simultaneously questioned whether countries stockpiling the drug are buying enough to protect their citizens in the event of an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – In an effort to improve developing countries' access to potential pandemic influenza vaccines, the WHO (World Health Organization) said today it is awarding grants to six countries to help them develop the capacity to make flu vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – Faced with the reality that an effective vaccine is not likely to be available for at least the first several months of an influenza pandemic, some corporations are buying antiviral medications for their employees—both to protect them and to improve the chances that the company could keep providing vital products and services through a pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – In the wake of a clinical conference, the World Health Organization (WHO) has modified its recommendations on treatment for patients with H5N1 avian influenza by strengthening a warning against corticosteroids and suggesting the option of using higher doses of oseltamivir in some cases, among other advice.