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.

Australia all set to tackle bird flu

Australia is one of only a few countries well prepared for an outbreak of bird flu in it's poultry population.

31 May 2006

What to do about bird flu

The latest deaths last week from bird flu in Indonesia have spread alarm across the globe that the world is on the brink of a pandemic.

30 May 2006

Birthplace of AIDS found

After a 10-year search for the origin of HIV, scientists say they have finally traced the initial source of the global pandemic presently affecting more than 40-million people worldwide.

29 May 2006

WHO ships Tamiflu to Indonesia just in case

A Hong Kong laboratory officially recognized by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed the latest four cases of bird flu infection in humans in Indonesia.

29 May 2006

Bird flu doing the rounds, back again in China

According to official sources in China an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu has been detected among wild birds in the remote far-western Qinghai province and in Tibet.

25 May 2006

WHO says Indonesian bird flu cluster does not show virus has mutated

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that despite the cluster of seven members from the same Indonesian family dying of bird flu this month, it does not signify that the virus has mutated and is being transmitted from human to human.

25 May 2006

Two more deaths from bird flu as Indonesia tries to track down souce of 'cluster' deaths

While Health officials in Indonesia are still trying to track down the source of infection in a cluster of six deaths in one family from H5N1 bird flu, tests show that two more people have also died of the same disease.

23 May 2006

WHO suffers tragic loss of a visionary leader

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr. Lee Jong-wook of South Korea, has died suddenly following surgery for a blood clot on the brain.

22 May 2006

Bird flu crops up again in Indonesia

According to a senior Indonesian health official an 18-year-old shuttlecock maker from East Java is the latest victim of bird flu.

22 May 2006

FDA gives tentative approval to new generic AIDS drug

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the tentative approval of generic abacavir sulfate tablets manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma LTD. of Hyderabad, India.

18 May 2006

Experts concerned over bird flu 'clusters' in Indonesia

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed five bird flu deaths in Indonesia and says that the disease has now spread to the Horn of Africa.

17 May 2006

Who should get influenza vaccine?

An American flu pandemic would present difficult and tragic choices: As many as 90 million people might become sick, and widespread shortages of vaccine would likely leave more than 90 percent of the population unprotected in the pandemic's first year.

16 May 2006

Bird flu - the battle could be over

Even though Dr. David Nabarro, chief pandemic flu coordinator for the United Nations says he is encouraged by how both Thailand and Vietnam had responded to the health crisis facing their domestic poultry, and their successful efforts to reduce the threat of the disease, the deadly H5N1 strain still remains a significant threat, especially to Indonesia and Africa.

14 May 2006

Seniors should be last in line when it comes to bird flu jabs

According to two U.S. medical ethicists, because stocks of bird flu vaccine are likely to be in short supply, in the event of a bird flu pandemic, the young should have priority over the elderly, ill and disabled.

14 May 2006

Bird flu not spread on the wings of wild birds

According to a Dutch environmental organisation, the on-going fear that flocks of wild birds will spread the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu through Africa and Europe may be ill founded.

14 May 2006

Fictional bird flu accounts point to need for emergency preparations - not panic

Highly publicized made for television dramas about fictional outbreaks of Asian Bird Flu highlight point to the need for preparation, not panic, Arizona state officials said.

11 May 2006

Space technology to help hospitals contain spread of avian flu infection

In response to concerns from hospitals to prepare for eventual pandemic flu outbreaks, the French company AirInSpace, with support from ESA's Technology Transfer Programme, has successfully adapted technology developed to protect astronauts for use in critical care centres to protect immune-deficient patients against airborne pathogens such as the avian flu virus.

10 May 2006

Renewed interest in studying influenza A viruses

The emergence of the avian influenza virus H5N1 that is currently devastating chicken flocks in many countries and threatening to unleash a worldwide epidemic among humans has triggered a renewed interest among scientists in studying influenza A viruses, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

9 May 2006

US bird flu plan puts the onus on local communities

In the event of a bird flu pandemic hitting the U.S. the government has released a pandemic response plan defining specific tasks for each federal government agency in order to help minimize disruptions.

8 May 2006

Restricting air travel as good as useless when it comes to stopping bird flu

According to British researchers attempts to halt a flu pandemic by restricting air travel will have little effect and even in the best case scenario the speediest action will serve to delay it by only a few months.

3 May 2006