Vietnamese scientists have found H5N1 in ducks

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Below is a round-up 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 (WHO) figures of confirmed human cases.

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Monday 9 July 2007
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Indonesian boy dies from bird flu
A six-year-old boy from Cilegon in Indonesia's Banten province has died from H5N1 bird flu, according to officials. The WHO has yet to confirm the case, which would bring the country's death toll from the virus to 81 (source: Reuters).

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Sunday 8 July 2007
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Bird flu returns to southern Vietnam
Vietnam's Animal Health Department has announced that Ca Mau, Vietnam's southernmost province is no longer free of bird flu after H5N1 was found in ducks (source: Thanh Nien News).

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Saturday 7 July 2007
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Malaysia three times lucky, says university dean
Mohd Zamri Saad, dean of the school of veterinary medicine at Universiti Putri Malaysia, says Malaysia has been fortunate to have experienced only three small outbreaks of bird flu, but warns they may not be so lucky next time. He points out the measures in place that could help the country contain a major outbreak (source: New Straits Times).

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Friday 6 July 2007
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China announces infectious disease strategy
The Chinese Ministry of Health has released a strategy on controlling emerging infectious disease, which could lead to long term policy on diseases such as bird flu and SARS. The ministry will develop a network to respond to disease outbreaks and allocate more resources to infectious diseases (source: Xinhua).

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Wednesday 4 July 2007
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Vietnam to buy Chinese bird flu vaccine
Vietnamese officials have travelled to China to buy 50 million doses of H5N1 vaccine for poultry. Vietnam currently only has 15 million doses left, jeopardising the national campaign to vaccinate all chickens and waterfowl (source: Reuters).

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Tuesday 3 July 2007
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US to give Egypt US$24 million for bird flu fight
The United States will reportedly donate US$24 million to Egypt to fight bird flu over the next three years. At a press conference, Egypt's minister of state for environmental affairs said the country has only a quarter of the estimated US$350 million it needs to combat the virus (source: Al-Ahram).