Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – A Chinese man in Hubei province has contracted the H5N1 avian influenza virus, while the pathogen has struck poultry in Sudan for the first time, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – Poultry deaths due to the H5N1 avian influenza virus are spreading in some parts of the world as cases decline elsewhere.

(CIDRAP News) – As many countries continue to battle H5N1 avian influenza, global animal-health officials are offering bad news and good news about the role of two players in the situation: Indonesia and cats.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a regulatory guidance document this week to help spur the development of diagnostic tests for avian influenza in humans.

The document, issued Apr 10, is intended to help medical technology companies meet FDA requirements when developing new tests for influenza A viruses, the FDA said in a Federal Register notice.

(CIDRAP News) – The spread of avian flu to the United States probably would not have the same impact it has had in less developed countries, according to the US government's top infectious-disease official.

(CIDRAP News) – Egypt and Indonesia each reported a new human case of avian influenza today, while the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed a suspected case in Azerbaijan.

An 18-year-old Egyptian woman from the northern governorate of Menufiya is that country's 12th victim of the avian flu virus, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported today. She was hospitalized today and remains in stable condition, AFP added.

(CIDRAP News) – Avian influenza is continuing its spread among birds in many countries worldwide, with widespread outbreaks reported in Myanmar.

More than 100 outbreaks have occurred in poultry in Myanmar (formerly Burma) since the presence of H5N1 avian flu was announced there about a month ago, officials from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told Reuters news service yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – A mathematical modeling study suggests that a modestly effective vaccine could keep an influenza pandemic from striking more than 10% of the US population, but only if large amounts of vaccine were distributed quickly and the virus was not too highly contagious.

(CIDRAP News) – Deadly H5N1 avian influenza has infected a swan found on the coast of Scotland, the first time the virus has turned up in a wild bird in the British Isles, news services reported today.

The news came as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that efforts to control avian flu on poultry farms "are slowly proving successful," especially in Thailand, Vietnam, and China.

(CIDRAP News) – The human toll of avian influenza in Egypt rose to 11 cases today with reports that an 18-year-old girl has died and an 8-year-old boy is hospitalized with the illness.