News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia reported its 69th H5N1 avian influenza case today, in the 21-year-old sister of an 11-year-old boy who died of the same disease on Sep 18.

The woman from the Tulungagung district of East Java tested positive for H5N1 today, 4 days after she was hospitalized, according to a Bloomberg News report. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed her 11-year-old brother's case on Sep 25.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed reports of two more human H5N1 avian influenza cases, one in Indonesia and one in Thailand, raising the official global tally to 251 cases with 147 deaths.

The two cases involve a 20-year-old Indonesian man who is part of a suspected case cluster in Bandung, West Java, and a 59-year-old farmer from northeastern Thailand. Both cases were reported by news services yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Thailand reported its 25th H5N1 avian influenza case today, a fatal illness in a 60-year-old man who raised fighting roosters.

(CIDRAP News) – A new project to help improve control strategies for avian influenza has been initiated in eight Asian countries, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has retrospectively recognized Iraq's third human case of H5N1 avian influenza, involving a 3-year-old boy who was hospitalized with a mild illness in March and recovered.

The WHO says the boy was hospitalized in Baghdad but doesn't list his home, the source of his infection, or other details.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed today that a 17-year-old boy who died on Jul 24 in the Phichit province of northern Thailand had H5N1 avian influenza, marking the country's first case this year.

The WHO statement said the case was confirmed by Thailand's Ministry of Health. The country had not recorded a human H5N1 case since December; its toll now stands at 23 cases with 15 deaths.

(CIDRAP News) – Thailand is facing its first outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in birds in 8 months, along with flu-like illnesses in a number of people in areas with sick birds, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – Spain today became the latest country to join the list of nations responding to outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza, as officials reported finding the virus in a wild bird.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed that a 15-year-old Indonesian boy who died May 30 had H5N1 avian influenza, but the agency said four nurses who had suspicious symptoms after caring for avian flu patients were not infected.

(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.