H5N1 News and Research

Latest H5N1 News and Research

Getting the picture on bird flu

A massive cull of poultry in a northeastern part of China, hit by the country's latest bird flu outbreak, will be carried out by some 1,700 officials and backed up by armed police, who have been sent to the affected county in Liaoning province to slaughter the birds.

7 Nov 2005

Global battle plan to beat bird flu

In a three-day meeting in Geneva as many as 400 health and veterinary officials representing international agencies, are attempting to establish a global strategy to stop the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus triggering a human pandemic of bird flu.

7 Nov 2005

Mongolian birds provide Avian influenza virus samples

Avian influenza virus samples collected from wild birds in Mongolia by field veterinarians from the New York City-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have been selected by the World Health Organization to be part of a new human pandemic influenza vaccine currently in development.

7 Nov 2005

Expert says bird flu more likely to fly in by plane than by birds

The United States, China and France have all announced new efforts to fight a possible pandemic of avian flu, including $500 million to monitor the virus in poultry and practice runs for dealing with a dreaded outbreak.

3 Nov 2005

Bird flu drug combo could extend supplies

Doctors are saying that because of the scarcity of Tamiflu, presently being stockpiled by governments in the event of an influenza pandemic, supplies could be extended by giving it with another drug.

2 Nov 2005

New way to generate genetically altered influenza virus

In the event of an influenza pandemic, the world's vaccine manufacturers will be in a race against time to forestall calamity.

1 Nov 2005

Haddon matrix could help public health officials tackle an influenza pandemic

A tool developed in the 1960s for preventing road traffic injuries could help in preparing for the next influenza pandemic, say researchers in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

1 Nov 2005

New technique provides supplies of seed viruses to fight bird flu

Researchers in the U.S. believe that a new manufacturing method may allow large quantities of vaccine to quickly be deployed against a deadly bird flu pandemic.

1 Nov 2005

George Bush needs more money to cope with bird flu

U.S. President George Bush is about to reveal his plans to fight a flu pandemic and apparently he will ask Congress for funding for a vaccine against bird flu as well as infrastructure to deal with any pandemic.

31 Oct 2005

Roche seeking others to make Tamiflu bird flu drug

According to Swiss drug maker Roche, the maker of the sort-after bird flu drug Tamiflu, it is seeking for outside producers for its drug, because of the skyrocketing demand amid concerns about a possible bird flu pandemic.

31 Oct 2005

Disaster experts meet in Australia to discuss bird flu

The group of 21 member countries, including Australia, Japan, Indonesia and the U.S., will meet this week to discuss a coordinated response to a global outbreak of the deadly bird flu.

31 Oct 2005

Canada wild ducks unlikely to have H5N1 virus

Canadian health officials say they have found a strain of avian flu in 33 wild migratory ducks, but it is unlikely to be the killer H5N1 strain which has spread from Southeast Asia to Europe.

31 Oct 2005

Two new bird flu deaths suspected in Vietnam, two more sick

According to hospital officials two people showing symptoms of the bird flu virus have died in the past week in Vietnam, where the disease has already killed more than 40 people.

31 Oct 2005

New vaccine that targets avian flu

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is enrolling volunteers in a study to test a new vaccine that targets avian flu, the first such vaccine against the virus.

30 Oct 2005

Avian Influenza in Alaska

Alaska is at the overlap for parts of the Asian and North American flyways for migratory birds which scientists say could provide an opportunity for exchange of bird flu viruses which then could lead to the evolution of new strains of viruses that could infect humans.

30 Oct 2005