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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 4 June 2007
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Bangladesh announces new five-year bird flu plan
The Bangladeshi government has completed negotiations with the International Development Association on a US$21 million avian influenza preparedness and response Project (source: Xinhua).


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Sunday 3 June 2007
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Bird flu reaches fifteenth Vietnamese area
A poultry farm in the province of Thai Binh has been hit with bird flu, taking the number of areas hit by H5N1 in recent weeks to 15, according to the national veterinary department. The agriculture ministry on Friday confirmed the northern Vietnamese province of Hung Yen as the 14th affected region (source: Vietnam News Agency).


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Friday 1 June 2007
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Antibodies provide possible bird flu treatment
Antibodies from Vietnamese bird flu survivors can prevent infection and neutralise the H5N1 virus in mice, indicating possibilities for treatment.


15-year-old girl Indonesia’s latest bird flu victim
A 15-year-old girl from central Java has died from bird flu, Indonesia’s health ministry has announced. The case takes the country’s total deaths to 79. The WHO has yet to confirm the case (source: Reuters).


Chinese bird flu samples arrive
Two bird flu samples ― the first sent by China in over a year ― have cleared American customs and arrived at the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (source: Reuters).


Vietnamese poultry worker diagnosed with bird flu
A male worker from a poultry slaughterhouse in Hanoi has tested positive for the H5N1 virus, according to the head of the Vietnamese Institute for Tropical Diseases (source: Thanh Nien News).


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Thursday 31 May 2007
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Human bird flu infections have slowed, say experts
Health experts at an anti-avian influenza conference in Paris, France, say the spread of bird flu in humans has slowed, but warn that the world must keep up efforts to prevent a pandemic (source: Reuters).


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Wednesday 30 May 2007
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Indonesian man dies from bird flu
A 45-year-old Indonesian man from Central Java has died from bird flu, the WHO has confirmed, bringing the total deaths in the country to 78 (source: Reuters).


New device speeds detection of H5N1
Researchers have announced that a new mass spectrometer device can rapidly detect 92 different viruses, including different strains of the H5N1 virus (source: Reuters).


China helps Indonesia in bird flu fight
China has donated US$910,000 to Indonesia’s fight against bird flu. First-stage assistance had been distributed to the provinces of Banten, West Java, Central Java and East Java (source: Vietnam News Agency).


Persistence of avian flu highlighted
Bird flu is fading from the headlines in some parts of the world, but its re-emergence in others is proving a challenge for disease trackers, reports Stephen Smith (source: The International Herald Tribune).


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Tuesday 29 May 2007
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Vietnamese agriculture minister steps up bird flu fight
The Vietnamese minister of agriculture and rural development has ordered the country’s poultry industry to immediately vaccinate or cull all water fowl (source: Thanh Nien News).