H5N1 News and Research

Latest H5N1 News and Research

New flu vaccine protects against all strains including bird flu

A new flu vaccine which protects against all strains of influenza has had promising results in trials.

6 Jan 2008

Vietnam's first bird flu outbreak in 2008 kills 350 ducks

In the first outbreak in poultry in Vietnam this year government officials say the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 350 white-winged ducks in the north of the country.

6 Jan 2008

Four die of bird flu in Egypt in less than a week

The deaths of two women in Egypt from bird flu on Monday has now brought the death toll in the Arab country from the deadly virus to four in less than a week.

2 Jan 2008

Despite past disasters U.S. still not ready to cope biological attacks and flu pandemics

According to a newly released report the U.S. remains unprepared to deal with disasters such as biological attacks and flu pandemics.

27 Dec 2007

WHO says Pakistan bird flu cluster no cause for alarm as yet

According to an expert at the World Health Organization, the cluster of suspected bird flu cases in Pakistan may be a combination of infections from poultry with limited person-to-person transmission.

19 Dec 2007

Bird flu a worry in Pakistan, Africa and Indonesia

A medical team has been sent to Pakistan by the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate the latest bird flu outbreak there.

19 Dec 2007

U.S. efforts to monitor H5N1 could easily miss entry of the virus into North America

A University of Kansas investigator closely following the spread of the avian influenza known as H5N1 said that U.S. government monitoring efforts easily could miss the entry of the virus into North America.

13 Dec 2007

Lethal human H5N1 influenza virus Replikin gene still upregulated

Replikins Ltd. has announced its latest findings regarding the virus replikin count in human H5N1 influenza virus. The company's software-driven analysis has found that the prevalence of these sequences has remained high in Indonesia; in addition, higher counts now have been found in China.

12 Dec 2007

Call for an early-warning avian influenza system

The international science community is not doing enough to track the many avian influenza viruses that might cause the next pandemic, a UC Davis researcher says in the journal Nature.

10 Dec 2007

Bird flu cases in China still a puzzle

Health authorities in China say the search for a causal link between a son and his father, both victims of bird flu, has revealed no evidence that the virus has mutated into a new strain.

10 Dec 2007

Plenty of turkey for Brits this Christmas despite bird flu

Brits will still be alright for their Christmas turkey this year despite the bird flu outbreaks.

10 Dec 2007

Bird flu comes to Poland just in time for Christmas

Another outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in Poland on the weekend means an extension of the export ban of Polish poultry and eggs for another two weeks.

10 Dec 2007

Human to human spread of bird flu suspected in China

Health authorities in China have announced that the father of a man who died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu last week also has the lethal virus.

9 Dec 2007

Simple measures such as hand washing better than drugs in dealing with flu viruses

Scientists say using physical barriers, such as regular hand washing and wearing masks, gloves and gowns, may be far more effective than drugs to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS.

27 Nov 2007

Bird flu in South Korea prompts culling of 17,000 ducks

A bird flu scare in South Korea has prompted Japan to ban all imports of poultry from there.

27 Nov 2007

Indonesia refuses again to share bird flu samples

The nation's health minister Siti Fadilah Supari says before any bird flu specimens are sent to the WHO, Indonesia needs assurances that poorer nations will have affordable access to any pandemic vaccines developed from the virus and they are not only available to the rich

26 Nov 2007

Another case of bird flu in Hong Kong

It appears that a sick egret found in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong last week has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

26 Nov 2007

Brits gear up for pandemic while FDA warns about flu jabs side-effects

The British government says it plans to double its stockpile of antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu to cope with the possibility of a flu pandemic.

26 Nov 2007

Brits battle to contain bird flu as another 68,000 birds are culled

Another 68,000 birds have been culled in England in efforts to contain an outbreak of the deadly bird flu, 56,000 ducks, 9,000 turkeys and 3,000 geese.

22 Nov 2007

Novel proposal to overcome the virus sharing impasse

In light of the importance of virus monitoring for pandemic influenza preparedness and response, Indonesia's refusal to share samples of avian flu (H5N1) virus with the WHO for most of 2007 is "distressing and potentially dangerous for global public health," say two leading global health experts in an essay in this week's PLoS Medicine.

21 Nov 2007