Bird Flu News

The Public Health Agency says any research on enhanced H5N1 bird flu viruses in Canada must be done in laboratories with the top level of biosecurity.

Can research studies reveal too much? This week on Sound Medicine , IU bioethicist Eric Meslin, Ph.D., discusses bird flu research efforts that were suspended on bioethical grounds.

The New York Times : Don't Censor Influenza Research In December, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity made an unprecedented request: it asked the editors of the journals Nature and Science not to publish certain details in two papers describing experiments in which scientists created a highly transmissible form of the deadly H5N1 ... (more)

With Republican presidential candidates attacking President Barack Obama's plans for Medicare, the administration is on the offensive to reassure seniors, sending Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the road to tout the program.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza among wild birds emerged simultaneously with outbreaks in domestic poultry in South Korea during November 2010-May 2011.

Wan said the goal of his research is to find the sources of human H5N1 infections and provide the foundations for policy-making for protecting public health.

Editor's Note: Last week, Toronto's liscencing committee voted against the idea of lifting the ban on owning backyard chickens.

The agency of animal husbandry of Brebes district, Central Java has confirmed that the death of 88 birds recently in villages such as Terlangu, Kemaron, Kutamendala and Purwodadi was due to bird flu.

Thanks to Helen Branswell for tweeting the link to this New York Times op-ed by Professor Howard Markel, a historian of medicine: Censorship Hinders Influenza Research .

The methods and results should be redacted from two research papers describing controversial experiments on the H5N1 avian flu virus, concludes a federal biosecurity advisory board .

Australian authorities have ordered on Wednesday the destruction of some 24,000 ducks in Victoria to contain the spread of the avian flu detected in the southern region of the country.

Vietnam has confirmed its second human death from bird flu in nearly a month, after going nearly two years with no reported fatalities.

HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnam has confirmed its second human death from bird flu in nearly a month, after going nearly two years with no reported fatalities.

Vietnam has confirmed its second human death from bird flu in nearly a month, after going nearly two years with no reported fatalities.

Preliminary test conducted on two dead birds in Hong Kong, tested positive for the H5 avian influenza virus, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

A tense situation occurred amongst public today when the Health Officials in Bingiriya Area had announced that some host Chickens in a Poultry Farm of the area were reported as dead due to a mysterious disease suspected as Avian Flu Even the Epidemiology Unit has sent two Medical Teams to the area to probe on this matter.

A man transports a cage containing live chickens on a street in Hanoi December 30, 2011.

THE Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said yesterday that preliminary testing of a dead peregrine falcon and a dead black-headed gull have returned positive for the H5 avian influenza virus.

The Mekong Delta's Soc Trang Province has reported another bird flu death, the 2nd case in 2012, according to the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health.

On his virology blog, Dr. Vincent Racaniello has posted The NSABB speaks on influenza H5N1 .