Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – The 7-year-old son of a Thai farmer who died 2 days ago of H5N1 avian influenza also has the virus, but there is no evidence that the boy caught it from his father, according to news services.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports said the boy tested positive for the virus, but they didn't say what test was used or where it was done. The boy is hospitalized but is expected to recover.

(CIDRAP News) – A 48-year-old Thai man who died yesterday had H5N1 avian influenza, marking Thailand's first human case in more than a year, according to Thai officials and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The man, who fell ill after slaughtering sick chickens, had the first case in Thailand since Oct 8, 2004, the WHO said. Thailand has had 18 confirmed cases, including 13 deaths, since the current wave of H5N1 outbreaks began in late 2003.

(CIDRAP News) – New avian influenza outbreaks were reported today in European Russia, China, and Vietnam, as experts said recent outbreaks in Turkey and Romania have strengthened the suspicion that migratory birds are spreading the H5N1 virus.

In addition, avian flu was suspected in a Thai man who died of a lung infection after killing and eating chickens that might have had the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche announced today it would build a plant in the United States to make oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and also consider licensing other companies to make the drug in the face of a possible flu pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – The lethal avian flu virus that's prompting concerns about a human pandemic has officially been found in Romania, authorities confirmed over the weekend.

A British laboratory testing the Romanian samples found H5N1 in three birds that had been found dead in the Danube delta, according to Reuters news service on Oct 15.

(CIDRAP News) – A sample taken from a turkey on a remote Greek island contained an H5 virus, Reuters news service reported this afternoon.

The specific strain has not yet been identified, and the sample was sent for further testing, Greek authorities said.

(CIDRAP News) – A report published today by scientists who isolated an H5N1 virus resistant to oseltamivir from a infected Vietnamese girl further fuels concern over preparedness for a potential and widely anticipated pandemic caused by the strain.

(CIDRAP News) – The avian influenza virus long established in Southeast Asia has reached Europe's doorstep, with confirmation today that a lethal virus in Turkey is H5N1 and that an H5 strain in Romania is still being subtyped.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent and extensive review of research on H5N1 avian influenza in humans shows the illness differs from ordinary flu in several ways, besides the most obvious fact that it is far more deadly.

The report by a World Health Organization (WHO) committee says avian flu may have a longer incubation period and is more likely to cause diarrhea than typical flu viruses are, among other differences.

(CIDRAP News) – A not-yet-released version of the Bush administration's plan for dealing with an influenza pandemic predicts that such an event could exact an enormous toll in life and wealth, according to recent newspaper reports.