Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – China reported today that a 9-year-old girl died 2 days ago of H5N1 avian influenza, becoming the country's 10th person to succumb to the virus.

The girl, whose case was announced Feb 27, lived in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. She fell ill on Feb 10 and was in critical condition by the time her case was made public.

(CIDRAP News) – Albania today became the latest European country to confront H5N1 avian influenza in birds, while US officials reported plans to greatly expand testing of wild birds for the virus in Alaska and on the West Coast this spring.

(CIDRAP News) – A second vaccine against human H5N1 influenza is being developed, US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt announced yesterday.

In a speech at an immunization conference, Leavitt announced that he has authorized the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to start work on a second vaccine, according to an Associated Press (AP) report published yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – As the H5N1 avian influenza virus continued to claim human victims, World Health Organization (WHO) and other experts met in Geneva today for a 3-day conference to hone the agency's pandemic response plan.

(CIDRAP News) – The European expansion of H5N1 avian influenza continued with discovery of the virus in two swans in Poland, while three cats in an Austrian animal shelter tested positive for the virus as well, according to reports today.

A Polish laboratory identified the virus in two swans found dead in the northern city of Torun, news services reported. The cases were the first ones reported in Poland.

(CIDRAP News) – Public health experts will meet in Geneva next week to continue developing the World Health Organization's (WHO's) draft plan for quick action to head off a potential influenza pandemic.

The WHO announced the meeting as a Hong Kong official reported another possible human case of H5N1 avian flu in China, involving a 32-year-old man who died yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – China's vice premier said today that China may see more bird outbreaks and human cases of avian influenza this spring, as the government announced plans for an intensive hunt for cases among wild birds on a major migration route, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – US health officials announced today they have ordered more than 14 million treatment courses of two antiviral drugs to add to the 5.5 million courses already bought in preparation for a possible influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Europe braced for further spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus today in the wake of reports that the virus was suspected in the deaths of two wild ducks on Sweden's Baltic coast and a domestic cat in Germany.

The cat was discovered last weekend on Ruegen, the island off Germany's north coast where H5N1 was first discovered on German soil, according to a Reuters report.

(CIDRAP News) – A girl and a young woman in China have contracted avian influenza and are in critical condition, marking the 13th and 14th confirmed cases there, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

In addition, the WHO recognized a fatal human case of avian flu that was reported last week in Indonesia. The WHO's current global count of human bird flu cases is 173, including 93 deaths.