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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.


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Monday 16 January 2006
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Indonesian girl dies of bird flu, say authorities
If the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms that a 13-year-old girl died of bird flu, she will be the country’s 13th victim of the disease (Source: BBC Online).


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Sunday 15 January 2006
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Fourth bird flu death suspected in Turkey
Tests are underway to determine whether a 15-year-old girl is Turkey’s fourth bird flu victim, and 15th case (Source: BBC Online).


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Saturday 14 January 2006
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Iran orders bird cull
Iran has ordered 1,000 birds to be culled in the northeast of the country in an effort to keep the outbreak in neighbouring Turkey at bay (Source: IrelandOn-Line).


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Friday 13 January 2006
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Bird flu mutation sparks concern
The WHO says the bird flu virus that killed two children in Turkey has a mutated, meaning it could be closer a pandemic form, but experts say many more mutations are needed for that to happen (Source: Nature).

World Bank pledges US$500m in bird flu aid

World Bank member nations say they will give US$550 million in aid to countries battling bird flu; Kyrgyzstan will receive the first US$5 million (Source: news.com.au / Reuters).


Africa ‘particularly vulnerable to bird flu’
Africa is particularly vulnerable to bird flu because of poverty and health care systems already stretched by HIV/AIDS, said experts at a WHO meeting (Source: PlanetArk).


Europe pledges US$100m in bird flu aid
The European Union will give US$100 million in aid to countries fighting bird flu, according to EU officials; the UN hopes to raise US$1.5 billion at a conference in China next week (Source: AKI).


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Thursday 12 January 2006
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Third bird flu death in Turkey
The Turkish government has confirmed that a child who died last week was infected with the deadly H5N1 virus (Source: Forbes).


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Wednesday 11 January 2006
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Two more bird flu deaths in China
Two people who died in China in December died of bird flu, according to the WHO; the total number of confirmed deaths there is now five (Source: BBC Online).


UN warning over Turkey bird flu
Bird flu may be spreading in Turkey despite controls, and could become endemic there posing a “serious threat” to neighbouring countries, says the UN FAO (Source: BBC Online).


Global bird flu campaign needs US$1.4 billion — UN
International donors will need to donate about US$1.4 billion for the next phase of the global campaign against bird flu at a conference next week in Beijing, says a top UN official (Source: Reuters).


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Tuesday 10 January 2006
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Mild bird flu ‘underestimated’ in humans
Research suggests a mild form of bird flu might be transmitted to people more often than realised (Source: SciDev.Net).

Weaker bird flu in Turkey challenges medical theories

Doctors in Turkey are wondering if they are seeing human bird flu in its early stages, or if the high number of mild cases means that infection is not as deadly as generally thought (Source: New York Times).


New type of bird flu in Japan?
Up to 77 people in Japan may have been infected with a mild form of bird flu, in what could be the world’s first case of human infection of the H5N2 virus, health officials said Tuesday (Source: CBS News).


Bird flu ‘can be contained’
The bird flu outbreak in Turkey, which local officials say has infected 15 people and killed two, can be “relatively easily” controlled, says a WHO official (Source: Channel4 News).


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Monday 9 January 2006
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WHO confirms 14 bird flu cases in Turkey
The WHO said on Monday that it was now treating all 14 of the bird flu cases announced by Turkish authorities as confirmed (Source: Reuters).


China confirms eighth human case of bird flu
China’s health ministry has said a six-year-old boy in the Hunan province is the country’s eighth person to get bird flu (Source: China Daily).


Bird flu confirmed in Crimean village
Bird flu has been confirmed at poultry farms in the village of Primorsky on the Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula (Source: MosNews).


Bird flu kills 12th Indonesian man
Indonesian health officials have confirmed a man who died on 1 January was infected with the H5N1 virus (Source: Science Daily).


Boy from Turkish bird flu family leaves hospital
A six-year-old boy whose brother and two sisters died of bird flu last week was discharged from hospital after being confirmed free of the disease (Source: Reuters).