A farm in Salemata, Senegal. Donors have pledged millions to help Africa fight bird flu

Jeannine Gaultier, IRD

Below is a roundup of the key developments on the spread of the bird flu virus (H5N1) and the threat it poses to human health. Each title is a link to the full article.

Click here to see the latest World Health Organization figures of confirmed human cases.

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Friday 15 December 2006
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Experts urge flu vaccine and more surveillance
Governments must do more to prepare for a bird flu pandemic, including boosting surveillance and research on finding a vaccine against the disease in humans, said experts at a Singapore conference on avian flu (Source: Reuters).

South Korean bird flu outbreaks probably came from China
The two cases of bird flu discovered last month in South Korea had similarities to strains discovered in China, and probably came from midwest China, said South Korean officials (Source: Yonhap News). 

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Thursday 14 December 2006
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Myanmar keeps up monitoring of migrating birds
Myanmar continues to monitor migratory birds that could potentially carry the bird flu virus at a lake in Shwebo, central Myanmar (Source: Xinhua).

North Korea claims own bird flu vaccine for poultry
North Korea claims to have developed a poultry vaccine against H5N1 and is inoculating chickens with it as it steps up its efforts against the disease following outbreaks in South Korea (Source: Associated Press).

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Tuesday 12 December 2006
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Test birds' throats, says scientist
Many countries test for bird flu in fecal samples, but this can miss many cases; instead the animals’ throats should be tested, which contain up to ten times more virus, said a bird flu expert (Source: Bloomberg). 

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Monday 11 December 2006
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Donors pledge US$476 million to fight bird flu in Africa
International donors pledged US$476 million to fight the spread of bird flu in Africa through boosting veterinary, early warning and reporting systems (Source: Associated Press).