Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – Avian influenza has flared again in the poultry populations of two Asian countries that had enjoyed prolonged quiet periods—Japan and Thailand—as authorities battled spreading bird outbreaks in Vietnam.

(CIDRAP News) – A flurry of H5N1 avian influenza activity continued today with reports of another confirmed human case and several suspected cases in Indonesia, along with poultry outbreaks of probable H5N1 in Nigeria and Japan.

(CIDRAP News) – The husband and son of an Indonesian woman who was being treated for H5N1 avian influenza were hospitalized with possible cases of the same illness today, and the woman died shortly afterward, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed today that a 37-year-old man from China's Anhui province is recovering from H5N1 avian influenza, the country's first case in nearly 5 months, while hospital officials in Indonesia said one of two avian flu patients there died today.

(CIDRAP News) – Hong Kong government officials recently announced that a wild bird found dead near a busy shopping district on Dec 31 tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – Two Indonesians have been hospitalized in less than a week with H5N1 avian influenza infections, the country’s first in more than a month, according to news services.

Indonesia’s health ministry told Bloomberg News yesterday that a 14-year-old boy who tested positive for the H5N1 virus was being treated at Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta after showing flulike symptoms on Jan 1.

(CIDRAP News) – In an effort to expand the pool of antiviral drugs for influenza, the US government yesterday awarded a $102.6 million contract to BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., to develop peramivir, a new neuraminidase inhibitor.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials have announced the launch of the first clinical trial of an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine made from a piece of the virus's DNA rather than from the whole virus, an approach that may facilitate faster vaccine production.

(CIDRAP News) – California scientists report that their analysis of the medical literature has yielded data on more than 600 molecular components of influenza A viruses that trigger immune responses, findings they hope will spur the search for vaccines offering protection against multiple flu strains.