Bird Flu News | The Latest Information on Bird Flu

The latest bird flu news from around the world. Find out the location of the most recent outbreaks of the bird flu virus and what is being done to prepare for a bird flu pandemic.

Monitoring For 'Pandemic' Mutations By Examining Bird Flu Infections
Scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust are to examine what is preventing the H5N1 avian influenza virus from causing a human pandemic and what mutations are required to realise its deadly potential. The research could hold the key to early identification of a potential influenza pandemic, and to developing drugs and a vaccine. Since its reappearance in 1997, the H5N1 influenza virus has caused disease and death in millions of birds around the globe.

Discovery Offers Potential For Drugs To Fight Bird Flu, Other Influenza Epide...
Researchers at Rutgers University and The University of Texas at Austin have reported a discovery that could help scientists develop drugs to fight the much-feared bird flu and other virulent strains of influenza.

Pitt Scientists Receive $3.6 Million To Test Vaccine Against Deadliest Strain...
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research have been awarded $3.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to conduct animal studies of vaccines designed to protect against the most common and deadliest strain of avian flu, H5N1. Recent outbreaks of H5N1 have prompted health officials to warn of its continued threat to global health and potential to trigger an avian flu pandemic.

Flu Antibodies Recovered From 1918 Pandemic Survivors
Scientists in the US recovered antibodies to the 1918 flu virus from elderly survivors of the pandemic, used them to create cell lines of monoclonal antibodies and then showed they were still potent by injecting them into infected mice that survived, whereas the controls did not.

Bird Flu In Indonesia: Prevalence, Mortality, And Action
In order to help Indonesia improve its high human mortality due to bird flu (H5N1 influenza), more effective diagnostic methods must be used and improved case management must be implemented to achieve faster treatment with antivirals, according to the authors of an article released on August 14, 2008 in The Lancet. Most of us are familiar with the flu, which seasonally affects many populations.

Canopus Biopharma And Leading Chinese Researcher Team Up To Treat Avian Influ...
An internationally renowned avian influenza expert hailed "encouraging and exciting" results from experiments conducted by his research team. This study demonstrated impressive efficacy of a novel statin/caffeine combination, StatC? in the treatment and prevention of H5N1, H1N1 and H3N2 in a mouse model. Dr.

Experts Closing In On Avian Flu Breakthrough
Groundbreaking research to enable rapid diagnosis of bird flu - including the deadly H5N1 strain which can be fatal if passed on to humans - is being developed with the help of Nottingham Trent University. Experts from the university's School of Science and Technology are playing a key role in a European project to create portable machines capable of identifying the disease instantly, potentially saving the lives of countless humans and animals.

New Bird Flu Strain Detected In Nigeria - FAO Calls For Increased Surveillance
A strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza previously not recorded in sub-Saharan Africa has been detected in Nigeria for the first time, FAO said recently. Nigeria has recently reported two new Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks in the states of Katsina and Kano.

Pandemic Research Receives $1.6M Funding Boost
Densely populated cities and increased air travel can be factors which create and spread pandemic disease. But a McMaster University researcher is working with isolated Hutterite communities to understand the transmission of pandemic diseases like influenza. Dr. Mark Loeb and his research team have received $1.

More Investment In International Surveillance Of Infectious Diseases Vital To...
An influential Lords Committee have today reported that a new and potentially deadly infectious disease emerges somewhere in the world every year and it is vital that there is more investment in international surveillance if pandemics are to be avoided.

Inovio Biomedical's First Proprietary DNA Vaccine Achieves 100% Protection Ag...
Inovio Biomedical Corporation (AMEX:INO), a leader in enabling the development of DNA vaccines using a proprietary electroporation-based DNA delivery platform, announced recently pre-clinical results from two proprietary plasmid DNA-based universal influenza vaccine candidates using the company's proprietary electroporation delivery technology and, specifically, a new intradermal device.

Vical Announces Breakthrough For Pandemic Influenza DNA Vaccines With Prelimi...
Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq: VICL) announced a breakthrough with preliminary clinical trial data demonstrating that DNA vaccines can safely achieve significant immune responses against H5N1 pandemic influenza in humans.

Indiana Health Officials Examine State's Pandemic Influenza Ethics Planning
Information relevant to Indiana's current pandemic influenza preparedness plan was presented July 16 during a symposium convened by the Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana University Center for Bioethics, "The Ethics of Pandemic Influenza Planning in Indiana: What Have We Done and

Possible Future Avian Influenza Pandemic May Be Eased By Booster Vaccination
New evidence suggests that a booster vaccination against H5N1 avian influenza given years after initial vaccination with a different strain may prove useful in controlling a potential future pandemic. The study is published in the August 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. H5N1 continues to pose a major health risk to birds and humans.

Newly Described "Dragon" Protein Could Be Key To Bird Flu Cure
Scientists and researchers have taken a big step closer to a cure for the most common strain of avian influenza, or "bird flu," the potential pandemic that has claimed more than 200 lives and infected nearly 400 people in 14 countries since it was identified in 2003. Researchers at the U.S.