Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers in Thailand recently reported that they isolated live H5N1 avian influenza virus from the blood of a 5-year-old boy, an unusual finding that raises concern about possible transmission of the virus via blood.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesian authorities have attributed the deaths of five members of one extended family to H5N1 avian influenza, and three surviving relatives are also suspected of having the virus, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – A 2-year-old girl from a small rural village in Djibouti, on the border of Somalia, has been found to have the country's first case of H5N1 avian influenza, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – An analysis of more than 600 H5N1 avian influenza viruses collected from several Asian countries suggests that two older antiviral drugs could be more useful in fighting a flu pandemic triggered by H5N1 than previously believed.

(CIDRAP news) – In a human trial in France, an experimental H5N1 avian influenza vaccine with an adjuvant showed modestly better performance at a lower dose compared with a similar H5N1 vaccine that was tested earlier in the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – The creators of the fictional ABC-TV movie "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" blended medical facts from the 1918 influenza pandemic with current predictions from flu experts to portray a contemporary flu pandemic, but they added a liberal dash of sensationalism.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that a 30-year-old man who died in late April was Indonesia's 25th avian influenza fatality.

(CIDRAP News) – The Ivory Coast government this week confirmed the presence of H5N1 avian influenza in birds, making it at least the sixth African country confronting the virus, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – The latest human infected with H5N1 avian influenza died of the infection yesterday in Egypt, while a leading influenza expert called H5N1 the worst flu virus he has seen.

(CIDRAP News) – A new study suggests that the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) can prevent deaths in ferrets infected with H5N1 avian influenza, according to reports today from an avian flu conference in Singapore.

News of the study's findings came as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported Egypt's 13th human case of H5N1 illness.