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Avian flu facts

Avian influenza (also called "bird flu") refers to the strains of the virus that infect birds. Bird flu can cause widespread illness and death among birds, though there are many different strains, which vary in strength.

1 Jun 2006

People with limited literacy skills have worse health outcomes

People aged 70 years and older with limited literacy skills are one and one half to two times as likely to have poor health and poor health care access as people with adequate or higher reading ability

31 May 2006

Promising new vaccine delivery approach

The field of vaccine development is getting a boost from new research that has identified a promising vaccine delivery approach, which in animal studies produced long-term immune protection after just one immunization.

31 May 2006

WHO bird flu situation update

Indonesian health authorities and WHO have further strengthened their response to the family cluster of cases in Kubu Simbelang village, Karo District, North Sumatra.

31 May 2006

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

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

WHO says bird flu cluster shows no evidence of virus mutating

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that a 32-year-old Indonesian man from Sumatra died on May 22 from the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

24 May 2006

Higher dose of flu vaccine improves immune response in the elderly

There may be a simple way to provide elderly Americans with extra protection against the annual flu virus: give them a higher dose of seasonal flu vaccine.

23 May 2006

High-dose influenza vaccines boost immunity in elderly

High-dose influenza vaccines may increase elderly patients' immune response without significant adverse effects, offering this vulnerable population additional protection against the flu, according to an article in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

23 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

WHO says bird flu cluster in Indonesia not due to human-to-human infection

Relief is bound to be felt in many quarters by the World Health Organization's statement that the cluster of bird flu cases confirmed in Indonesia recently are unlikely to be the result of human-to-human infection.

21 May 2006

Wake-up call - the cost of caffeine in pregnancy

The link between the caffeine intake of expectant mothers and low birth-weight babies is being explored in a groundbreaking study which will, for the first time, link caffeine intake with individual variations in metabolism - or breakdown - of caffeine.

17 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