(CIDRAP News) Orlando, FL Julie Gerberding, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), today challenged health and business leaders to stay focused on the "marathon" of preparing for an influenza pandemic.
Gerberding, speaking at a conference on business preparedness, said it's not possible to maintain high public interest in the pandemic threat indefinitely, but leaders must keep preparing anyway.
(CIDRAP News) Indonesia, the country that has seen more human deaths from avian influenza H5N1 than any other, has ceased sharing viruses isolated from its patients with international health authorities, challenging the global system for flu-strain identification and vaccine development.
(CIDRAP News) Two new human cases of H5N1 avian influenza were announced by Indonesia's health ministry today, as the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Egypt's latest case.
(CIDRAP News) Government veterinarians confirmed an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza at a large turkey farm in Suffolk, England, 2 days ago, marking the country's first poultry outbreak and Europe's second in 2007.
(CIDRAP News) New federal recommendations on nonpharmaceutical measures communities can use to fight an influenza pandemic are drawing generally high marks from public health officials and others, but they say the plan spells a massive workload for local planners.
(CIDRAP News) Inducing just two small changes in the virus that caused the influenza pandemic of 1918 inhibits the pathogen's ability to spread, researchers reported Thursday, a finding that may help identify potential pandemic flu strains in the future.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that if the threat of an influenza pandemic increases, it will release viruses to vaccine manufacturers before completion of some safety tests, a step that could save about 2 weeks in vaccine development.
(CIDRAP News) Nigerian officials confirmed today that a 22-year-old woman died of H5N1 avian influenza, making Nigeria the third African country to have a human case, after Egypt and Djibouti.
The woman was from Lagos, the nation's largest city, a government minister told news services.
(CIDRAP News) Russia reported its first H5N1 avian influenza outbreak of the season today, as more suspicious bird deaths were reported in Japan and Hungary, where agriculture authorities are battling other recently confirmed outbreaks.
(CIDRAP News) Indonesias health ministry announced today that a 6-year-old girl recently died of H5N1 avian influenza, marking the countrys sixth case this year, according to news services.
The girl, from central Java, died 6 days ago in a Yogyakarta hospital, Ahmad Priyatna, an official with Indonesias bird flu information center, told Reuters. He said her neighbors reportedly had dead chickens.
