South Korea’s quarantine officials have completed slaughtering tens of thousands of poultry after a fresh outbreak of bird flu. A total of 23,000 chickens and ducks have been killed in Asan, about 90 kilometers south of Seoul.
Vietnam has confirmed a lethal H5N1 bird flu outbreak among its domestic poultry in the south of the country.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore will begin a clinical trial in January to test the first cell culture-based pandemic influenza vaccine to see if it will provide immunity faster and more reliably than a vaccine produced in eggs. The new study is also the first test in the United States of a whole virus vaccine for avian influenza, which could produce a stronger response by the immune system.
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) today commended the federal government’s progress in executing 92 percent of the six month benchmarks in the national pandemic preparedness implementation plan.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced the United States has formally accepted the revised International Health Regulations (IHR), and will begin the process of implementing these new international rules immediately instead of waiting for them to take effect in June 2007. Secretary Leavitt made the announcement during a week-long visit to the People?s Republic of China.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin have identified a novel antiviral peptide that may inhibit influenza viruses including the H5N1 strain. They report their findings in the December 2006 issue of the Journal of Virology.
South Korea has confirmed its third outbreak in three weeks of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu after about 4,000 quail died at a southern farm.
The International donor community today pledged $475 million to fight bird flu after a senior United Nations official warned them that the virus, with its possible mutation into a deadly human pandemic, remains a potent threat around the world.
The global battle against bird flu needs $750 million extra a year to stem its spread and prepare for any pandemic it spawns, the United Nations said.
A second chicken farm in South Korea has been found to contain the highly-pathogenic bird flu virus H5N1. The outbreak occurred at a farm close to where a case was confirmed at the weekend.