Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – Scientists say they have developed an inexpensive "gene chip" test that can quickly identify a variety of influenza A viruses, including H5N1, and is less apt to be confused by viral mutations than other tests are.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Labor yesterday released revised Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidance to help employers protect their workers from job-related exposure to H5N1 avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – Two new human cases of H5N1 avian influenza, one of them fatal, were reported in Indonesia today, raising the country's toll to 74 cases with 56 deaths.

A 30-month-old boy from Karawang in West Java province died of the illness today, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported, citing information from the Indonesian health ministry. The boy became ill Nov 5 and was hospitalized Nov 10.

(CIDRAP News) – China said today it would share more avian influenza virus samples, despite reported misuse of some shared previously, and repeated its rejection of a report that a new strain of H5N1 virus has spread through southern China, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – A laboratory study indicates that the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel (Plavix) may limit the action of the antiviral oseltamivir (Tamiflu), which could mean trouble for cardiovascular disease patients who contract influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – Because federal officials expect to keep finding low-pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses in wild birds, they recently announced a new procedure for reporting the findings: posting them online but not issuing news releases.

(CIDRAP News) – A new subtype of H5N1 avian influenza virus has become predominant in southern China over the past year, possibly through its resistance to vaccines used in poultry, and has been found in human H5N1 cases in China, according to researchers from Hong Kong and the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – A group of influenza experts convened by the World Health Organization cautioned today that governments shouldn't stockpile "pre-pandemic" H5N1 influenza vaccines now, because too little is known about the requirements for an effective vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent World Health Organization (WHO) report on 10 of the 12 confirmed H5N1 avian influenza cases that occurred in Turkey last winter adds to evidence that children and youth may be particularly susceptible to the infection.

(CIDRAP News) – A 39-year-old woman who was previously listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as Egypt's 15th H5N1 avian influenza case-patient died today, the country’s state news agency reported.

She is the seventh Egyptian to die of the illness and the first fatality since May. The woman was from the Nile Delta town of Samanoud, which is about 60 miles northwest of Cairo, Reuters reported today.