This timeline details reported cases of bird flu in both animals and people from the first recording of the virus in China's Guangdong Province in 1996 onwards.

The document also highlights milestones in bird flu research, such as the October 2005 finding that the deadly 1918 pandemic virus shares characteristics with the H5N1 virus, and the March 2006 research that explains why H5N1 does not yet easily infect people.

The timeline also shows the geographical spread of the virus from Asia — especially South-East Asia — through central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The timeline is periodically updated — check the World Health Organization's avian influenza website for the latest version.

This risk assessment for Africa, published last year, covers influenza outbreaks in poultry and their significance for human health, human cases of H5N1, vaccine research and development, the role of antivirals during a pandemic, World Health Organization (WHO) support for pandemic preparedness in Africa, and recommended priority actions for African nations. The priority actions are fourfold. First, that African nations collaborate with one another, forming close links between various health sectors. Second, that existing coordinating bodies expand their role to include pandemic influenza. Third, that the surveillance and response systems are improved with the support of the WHO Regional Office. Fourth, that mechanisms be put in place to communicate messages to the public and media.

This paper in the New England Journal of Medicine summarises key information about how the H5N1 virus infects people and reviews recommendations for preventing infections and managing healthcare if they occur. It covers ways that H5N1 can be transmitted to people, the clinical symptoms it causes, and how to diagnose and treat infections. The paper also details strategies for preventing the spread of the virus. It says its recommendations are likely to change as new information about the virus becomes known. The paper is based partly on a World Health Organization meeting that took place in Vietnam in 2005, and has been translated into several languages, including Chinese, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.

This document presents the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) assessment of what needs to be done to control the current outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus, with a focus on poultry. The four main components it outlines are the need to improve global and regional coordination, to provide immediate support to newly infected countries, to help already infected countries control the spread of the disease, and to assist countries at risk of infection. For each of these components, the document presents an overall goal, individual objectives and what must be done to meet them. It also indicates how success can be measured and the cost of each activity. Regular updates to the document will be publicised on the FAO website (www.fao.org).

This document outlines the World Health Organization's (WHO) plans for reacting to the emergence of a human flu pandemic. The protocol has three main parts. The first describes how to recognise the emergence of a pandemic flu virus. The second describes actions that should immediately follow this. The third part describes steps that should be taken once the event has been verified, the overall situation has been assessed, and a decision has been made to launch the rapid containment operation.

This document is an update to an influenza pandemic plan released in 1999 by the World Health Organization (WHO), and is intended to help WHO member states to respond to the threat and occurrence of pandemic influenza. It addresses the possibility of a flu virus with pandemic potential — such as H5N1 — existing for a long time, with different levels of threat in different countries. It also redefines the phases of growing public health risk posed by new virus subtypes. It recommends actions for national authorities, and outlines measures for the WHO to take at each phase. The 52-page document is also available in Arabic, French, Russian and Spanish.

This set of questions and answers, prepared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), focuses on the threat that bird flu poses to public health. It also covers the spread of avian influenza in birds and other animals. The questions cover symptoms of infected birds and humans, and how to protect people against infection. They also outline factors that could trigger an influenza pandemic, and the measures needed to prepare for it.

This fact sheet was prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is part of the US government's Department of Health and Human Services. It gives some good background information about flu viruses and virus subtypes, putting the H5N1 virus strain into context. It also briefly outlines the threat bird flu poses to human health, and the status of research into drug treatments and human vaccines.

Compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) media centre, this fact sheet provides an overview of avian influenza in birds and humans. It explains why H5N1 is of particular concern, how it affects birds, and the role that migratory fowl play in spreading the disease, before focusing on the implications for human health. Its extensive section on the clinical symptoms of H5N1 in humans was produced with input from physicians with experience of treating patients.

Despite containing some clinical terms, it is easy to read, and would be useful to anyone wanting a comprehensive summary of the threat that bird flu poses to human health. It is also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.