H5N1 News and Research

Latest H5N1 News and Research

Latest death in Indonesia from bird flu takes toll up to 87

The Indonesian health ministry says the 44-year-old woman was from Pekan Baru city on Sumatra, and was apparently treated for fever at several hospitals before finally being admitted to Arifin Achmad hospital on October 4th where she died the following day.

8 Oct 2007

Call for new efforts to bolster disease surveillance in the Americas

Top international health authorities are urging new efforts to bolster disease surveillance in the Americas, saying that small and poorer countries in the region have limited ability to detect, assess and report on disease outbreaks that could spread beyond their borders.

8 Oct 2007

Worrying bird flu mutations

According to researchers in the United States even thought the H5N1 bird flu virus has not transformed into a pandemic strain, it has nevertheless slowly evolved into a pathogen better equipped to infect humans.

7 Oct 2007

40,000 computers used to tackle bird flu in search for new anti-viral drug discoveries

Last month a collaboration of European and Asian researchers launched a new attack against the deadly bird flu virus, harnessing the combined power of more than 40,000 computers across 45 countries to boost the pace of anti-viral drug discovery.

4 Oct 2007

H5N1 able to pass through placenta to fetus and infect organs other than lungs in adults

The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus can pass through the placenta of pregnant women to the unborn fetus, and can infect organs other than the lungs in adults. These are the conclusions of authors of an Article in The Lancet.

1 Oct 2007

How H5N1 virus works

H5N1 influenza, also known as avian influenza, is considered a major global threat to human health, with high fatality rates.

27 Sep 2007

New biosensor detects avian influenza in just minutes

Quick identification of avian influenza infection in poultry is critical to controlling outbreaks, but current detection methods can require several days to produce results.

27 Sep 2007

Aloe vera powder nose spray vaccine shows potential for bird flu treatment

Researchers at Texas A&M University are participating in developing a medicine that is worth sneezing about: a treatment for influenza that forms a jelly when sprayed into the nose.

26 Sep 2007

Nano device provides quick test for bird flu

A team of scientists from Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have come up with a new test which can quickly detect the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

24 Sep 2007

Chinese authorities say bird flu under control

According to Chinese authorities the bird flu outbreak in southern China has now been brought under control following the culling of all poultry and other birds in the affected area.

20 Sep 2007

Sanofi Pasteur's new H5N1 vaccine shows promise

Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, has announced data showing that its new investigational H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine containing a proprietary adjuvant achieved a high immune response at the lowest dose of H5N1 antigen reported to date.

18 Sep 2007

China culls 33,000 ducks to contain bird flu outbreak

Authorities in China say a suspected outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus has been discovered among ducks in an outlying district of the southern city of Guangzhou.

17 Sep 2007

Key differences discovered between avian and human flu

St. Jude scientists have found key features that distinguish influenza viruses found in birds from those that infect humans.

5 Sep 2007

H5N1 bird flu virus found on Russian chicken farm

An outbreak of bird flu on a farm in Russia will mean 22,000 chickens will be culled.

5 Sep 2007

New bird flu cases in Vietnam leaves four dead

The Ministry of Health in VietNam says there have been five new human bird flu cases of the deadly virus in the country since June this year.

4 Sep 2007

Indonesia denies human to human spread of bird flu

The Indonesian government has been forced to speak out about the continued spread of bird flu in the vast archipelago following the release of an analysis which suggests the deadly virus had been spread by person to person contact.

4 Sep 2007

German bird flu outbreak could be more widespread than first suspected

Veterinary officials in Germany now believe the outbreak of bird flu on a duck farm in southern Germany was more widespread and of longer duration than was first suspected.

29 Aug 2007

Limited human-to-human spread of Avian-flu virus in Indonesia in 2006 confirmed

In the first systematic, statistical analysis of its kind, infectious-disease-modeling experts at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center confirm that the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus in 2006 spread between a small number of people within a family in Indonesia.

28 Aug 2007

Bird flu hits Germany, 160,000 geese slaughtered

Following an outbreak of bird flu at a farm in southern Germany 160,000 geese have been slaughtered and a three-kilometer exclusion zone has been set up around the farm.

27 Aug 2007