Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(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.

(CIDRAP News) – Avian influenza and the threat of a flu pandemic were in the spotlight in Washington, DC, today as officials from 80 nations met to discuss the situation and President Bush was to meet with manufacturers of flu vaccines and drugs.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesian authorities said yesterday a hospitalized 21-year-old man had tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza.

Indonesia's Antara news agency said the man lives in Lampung but did not name him. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in Jakarta indicated avian flu, the report said. A Reuters report described the man as being in stable condition.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza researchers marked a milestone yesterday by publishing a report on the complete genetic mapping of 209 samples of human flu viruses, vastly increasing the supply of genetic data on flu.

(CIDRAP News) – Scientists today reported findings that may help explain what made the 1918 pandemic influenza virus so deadly and that reveal similarities between that virus and the H5N1 avian influenza virus now circulating in Asia.

(CIDRAP News) – A 23-year-old Indonesian man who kept birds has died from avian influenza, officials there said today, marking the seventh death they attribute to the H5N1 virus.

Slamet Wibowo died on Thursday, according to a story by Agence France-Presse (AFP) today. He was referred to Sulianti Saroso hospital for infectious diseases in Jakarta from a private hospital in Cibinong, according to Ilham Patu, a hospital spokesman.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States may need to quarantine regions of the country if localized outbreaks of a pandemic flu occur, US President George Bush said today during a press conference in Washington, DC.

Bush suggested expanding presidential power over state-run National Guard operations to implement such quarantines in the event of a pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Senate voted yesterday to provide $4 billion for antiviral drugs and other measures to prepare for a feared influenza pandemic, but whether the measure would clear Congress was uncertain.

(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations today signaled a new level of concern about avian influenza and the risk of a flu pandemic by naming a special coordinator of all UN responses to the situation.

Dr. David Nabarro, a British public health expert with the World Health Organization (WHO), was named to the new job of "UN system coordinator for avian and human influenza."

(CIDRAP News) – The federal government and MedImmune Inc. announced today they will collaborate to develop vaccines for potential pandemic strains of influenza, using the technology that was used to create the company's nasal-spray flu vaccine, FluMist.