H5N1 News and Research

Latest H5N1 News and Research

Local health officials don't rate U.S. government bird flu plans

Health officials in the U.S. have predicted, in the event of a bird flu pandemic, businesses and government can expect 40 percent of their employees to be absent during it's peak.

6 Dec 2005

Top vet in Ukraine sacked over bird flu

One of the Ukraine's top veterinarian officers has apparently been dismissed over the delayed reporting of an outbreak of bird flu.

5 Dec 2005

Emergency measures in Ukraine after 2000 birds die

In what appears to be the biggest outbreak yet in Europe of the deadly strain of bird flu, more than 2,000 domestic birds have died in a remote region of the Crimean peninsula in the Ukraine.

5 Dec 2005

Two more cases of bird flu in China makes experts jumpy

The confirmation of two new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry in China is causing concern among health experts as the virus continues to take its toll on Asia, and the world searches for ways to contain it.

29 Nov 2005

Vaccinating chickens shown to halt the spread of bird flu

Dutch scientists say that vaccinating chickens against avian flu can prevent a major outbreak of the disease by stopping birds from passing on the virus.

29 Nov 2005

Two more bird flu outbreaks in China - WHO investigating

Chinese authorities have confirmed two new bird flu outbreaks in poultry in the northwestern region of Xinjiang and in central Hunan province.

29 Nov 2005

Let's all have a go - Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan to make their own Tamiflu

Drug giant Roche, the makers of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, say that both Thailand and the Philippines are free to begin making their own versions of the drug.

29 Nov 2005

Contact with pigs increases risk of animal flu viruses

Farmers, veterinarians and meat processors who routinely come into contact with pigs in their jobs have a markedly increased risk of infection with flu viruses that infect pigs, according to a study funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

28 Nov 2005

Indonesia to produce bird flu vaccine with help from U.S. company

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the authorities there will cooperate with the U.S.-based Baxter International to produce human vaccines for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

28 Nov 2005

Romania culls thousands of fowl to stop the spread of bird flu

A remote village outside the Danube delta has been quarantined after the discovery of an avian flu virus in a turkey.

28 Nov 2005

Taiwan to produce its own version of Tamiflu

A government panel in Taiwan has decided that the anti bird flu drug Tamiflu can be produced there without permission from the Swiss drug maker Roche AG, if supplies of the medicine run out.

28 Nov 2005

Star anise sought after in bird flu fight

The ancient spice star anise is apparently the main source of shikimic acid, a key ingredient in the bird flu drug Tamiflu, and farmers in China's southern region of Guangxi are being encouraged to capitalise on the growing demand for the spice.

28 Nov 2005

China has another death from bird flu

According to local media the Health Ministry has said that a 35-year-old woman farmer in Anhui province developed fever and pneumonia-like symptoms on Nov. 11 after contact with sick and dead poultry, and she died on Nov. 22.

24 Nov 2005

China to use police in fighting bird flu

China which has had 17 outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu since the middle of last month, is struggling to control the virus which has now been found in seven provinces over a wide ranging area.

22 Nov 2005

Indonesia has bird flu victim no.68

According to reports a 35-year-old man Indonesian is the latest suspected victim of the avian flu virus.

21 Nov 2005

Bird flu scare in Canada

According to a Canadian health official test results on wild migratory ducks across Canada have not shown any link to the deadly Asian strain of the bird flu virus that has spread from Southeast Asia to Europe.

20 Nov 2005

Bird flu spreads in China while Bush's $ 7.1 billion pandemic fund stalls

As World health experts predicted there will be more human bird flu infections in China, the U.S. Congress has stalled the funding of President George W. Bush's plan to cope with a pandemic.

20 Nov 2005

Alarming deaths of Tamiflu patients - FDA to investigate

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating the deaths of 12 children in Japan who took Roche's flu-fighting drug Tamiflu.

20 Nov 2005

Human bird flu cases confirmed in China

According to official sources in China, at least one person has died from bird flu, confirming widespread suspicion that the deadly virus has now spread in people in another large Asian country where it might prove hard to contain.

16 Nov 2005

Battle on birdflu - Vietnam culls, China vaccinates, Indonesia ignores!

Vietnam has slaughtered thousands of birds in its two largest cities this week while other Asian nations have also upped their efforts to halt the spread of deadly avian flu.

15 Nov 2005