Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Roche seeking others to make Tamiflu bird flu drug

According to Swiss drug maker Roche, the maker of the sort-after bird flu drug Tamiflu, it is seeking for outside producers for its drug, because of the skyrocketing demand amid concerns about a possible bird flu pandemic.

31 Oct 2005

Disaster experts meet in Australia to discuss bird flu

The group of 21 member countries, including Australia, Japan, Indonesia and the U.S., will meet this week to discuss a coordinated response to a global outbreak of the deadly bird flu.

31 Oct 2005

Canada wild ducks unlikely to have H5N1 virus

Canadian health officials say they have found a strain of avian flu in 33 wild migratory ducks, but it is unlikely to be the killer H5N1 strain which has spread from Southeast Asia to Europe.

31 Oct 2005

New vaccine that targets avian flu

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is enrolling volunteers in a study to test a new vaccine that targets avian flu, the first such vaccine against the virus.

30 Oct 2005

Canadian pigeons raise bird flu alarm in Australia

An import of Canadian racing pigeons raised the threat of bird flu last week in Australia when the virus was discovered after testing a consignment of over 100 pigeons at a Melbourne quarantine station.

30 Oct 2005

Beijing steps up the action by disinfecting poultry market

According to authorities in Beijing they have confiscated 182 wild birds from traders and started disinfecting the city's largest live poultry wholesale market against avian flu.

30 Oct 2005

WHO wants more info on bird flu from China

Following pressure from world health bodies China on Friday to provide information on the death of a 12-year-old girl, Chinese officials now say the child died of pneumonia.

30 Oct 2005

Top officials say public should not panic over bird flu

Prominent health officials and politicians are advising people not panic about a possible influenza pandemic, despite the steady spread of a deadly strain of avian flu among humans.

27 Oct 2005

Man dies of pig-borne disease in Hong Kong

According to officials in Hong Kong, tests have shown that a man who died in hospital earlier this month had the pig-borne disease Streptococcus suis.

27 Oct 2005

Video game prepares health workers for disasters

A video game that simulates biological, chemical, radiological and natural disasters in a major metropolitan area, developed by a team from the University of Illinois at Chicago, will be used to prepare public health workers and emergency responders for real life emergencies.

27 Oct 2005

Global fund to tackle bird flu

The World Bank vice president, Jim Adams, says that officials from all over the world will meet in Geneva in early November to discuss setting up a global fund to tackle the threat of the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus.

27 Oct 2005

Chiron initiates Phase I/II study of an investigational cell culture-derived influenza vaccine

Cell culture-derived influenza vaccine (commonly referred to as "flu cell culture" vaccine) represents the next generation of influenza vaccine, both for annual vaccine production and for long-term pandemic preparedness.

26 Oct 2005

Australia furthers fight against Avian Influenza in Vietnam

Australia will provide $3 million to Vietnam to help the country combat Avian Influenza and other infectious diseases, the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Bruce Billson, announced in Hanoi.

26 Oct 2005

25 years down the line, 1800 children daily infected with AIDS

The UN charity UNICEF, has launched a global campaign to highlight the impact on children of AIDS.

26 Oct 2005

Most communities woefully unprepared for outbreaks of killer flu

If health officials and media prognosticators are accurate, this coming winter may bring with it one of the most sweeping, deadly outbreaks of killer flu that the world has ever seen.

25 Oct 2005

Counterfeit Tamiflu drug a very real threat

Health officials in the U.S. have expressed concern that with the current panic in many countries regarding bird flu, a counterfeit industry to produce the drug Tamiflu may already be in existence.

25 Oct 2005

Twelve chickens dead from bird flu in Russia

According to a senior regional health official, another region in European Russia has confirmed an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus H5N1.

25 Oct 2005

EU considers a ban on the import of live wild birds

After confirmation that a parrot in Britain died of a virulent strain of avian flu, Britain has called for a ban on the importation of live birds.

23 Oct 2005

Taiwan to produce its' own version of Tamiflu

Taiwan has apparently responded to bird flu fears by starting work on its own version of the anti-viral drug, Tamiflu, without waiting for the manufacturer's consent.

23 Oct 2005

Avian flu and planning for pandemic

Influenza season is almost upon us. While it is impossible to tell whether we are going to experience a usual flu season -- with one in every five people falling ill -- or whether we are facing a more serious problem such as a dangerous new strain capable of causing a global pandemic, information is important.

20 Oct 2005