Bird in Medical News

Discovery May Boost Bird Flu Vaccine Potency

Compound increases ability of 'killer T-cells' to get rid of infection, study says THURSDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- Boosting T-cell immunity may be one way to improve existing vaccines so that they can protect people during a bird flu pandemic, says an Australian study. "The '...

New Bird Flu Vaccine Shows Promise

Whole-virus version safe, effective and can be made quickly, researchers say WEDNESDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have succeeded in developing a whole-virus bird flu vaccine that appears to be safe, more effective than the one currently approved for human use and also able...

Elekta and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center Sign Strategic Multi-Center Radiation Therapy Systems Agreement

ATLANTA, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Elekta, a world class leader in advanced radiation therapy and radiosurgery, has been selected to supply multiple Elekta Synergy(R) digital linear accelerator systems to Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center over the next few years. The new Elekta Synergy systems wi...

Battling bird flu by the numbers

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, May 27, 2008A pair of Los Alamos National Laboratory theorists have developed a mathematical tool that could help health experts and crisis managers determine in real time whether an emerging infectious disease such as avian influenza H5N1 is poised to spread globally. I...

Probable Case of Human-to-Human Bird Flu Transmission Reported

But health experts say the report from China is no cause for alarm MONDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a probable case of human-to-human transmission of bird flu in China. The finding lends credence to the idea that there's a genetic component to human-to...

Early bird doesn't always get worm, UNC researcher finds

CHAPEL HILL Competing against older brothers and sisters can be tough work, as any youngest child will tell you. But new research from a biologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that when it comes to some birds, you should reserve any underdog sympathies for the first...

Some Countries May Have Slowed Bird Flu's Spread

Strains from China didn't make it to Vietnam, Thailand, study finds WEDNESDAY, Feb. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Several strains of H5N1 bird flu virus that afflicted southern China were blocked from entering neighboring Thailand and Vietnam, say University of California, Irvine, researchers...

Green Pet Products Introduces a New, Innovative Process to the Small Animal and Bird Litter/Bedding Category

CONRAD, Iowa, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Pet Products, an Iowa-based manufacturer of all-natural small animal and bird litter/bedding products, announces the development and introduction of a special sanitizing process for their cob-based litter products. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi...

Grid computing offers new hope in race against bird flu

Budapest, 4 October 2007 -- Last month a collaboration of European and Asian researchers launched a new attack against the deadly bird flu virus, harnessing the combined power of more than 40,000 computers across 45 countries to boost the pace of anti-viral drug discovery. Called Enabling Grids...

Key Viral Change Could Help Bird Flu Spread

An altered protein would let it thrive in upper airway, scientists say THURSDAY, Oct. 4 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists say they've spotted a crucial step the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus must take in order to spread easily in humans. Since H5N1 first appeared in 1997, there have been more ...

Online 'Epidemic' Gives Clues to Bird Flu Spread

A computer bug infected Web gamers, with ominous results, experts say TUESDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Online role-playing games could provide insight into how infectious diseases such as bird flu spread among people in the real world, American researchers report. A programming error caus...

Swans Checked in France for Deadly Bird Flu Virus

Three swans found dead in northeast France are being analysed to see if they carried the H5N1 strain of bird flu which can be fatal to humans, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday. 'First analyses have established a suspicion of bird flu. More tests are under way to see ... if this is an ...

France Steps Up Vigilance After Bird Flu Outbreak

France's health minister urged vigilance on Thursday after tests on three dead swans in the northeast confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which can be fatal to humans. "France is not threatened by a bird flu pandemic as there has not been, for the moment, a human contamin...

Dozens More H5N1 Bird Flu Cases in Germany

German authorities on Thursday reported 38 new cases of the feared H5N1 strain of bird flu which can kill huamns in the country's east . The regional authorities in Sangerhausen in the state of Saxony-Anhalt said 38 dead birds found on the shores of an artificial lake near the town of Kelbr...

Dutch Customs Deploys Special Bird Flu Dogs

Dutch customs have deployed two special bird flu dogs at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport to check flights from high-risk countries for poultry, the authorities said Saturday. The dogs, German shepherd Bo and Belgian shepherd Judy, are checking flights from countries where the bird flu virus h...

Indonesia Confirms 81st Bird Flu Death

A six-year-old Indonesian boy died of bird flu at the weekend, taking the death toll in the country worst hit by the virus to 81, a health ministry official said Monday . Indonesia has seen its toll from the deadly H5N1 virus grow steadily since 2005 when the first confirmed human deaths oc...

Vietnam Bird Flu Death a Call for Action, Say Experts

Vietnam's first human death from bird flu in more than a year has highlighted growing complacency among farmers in fighting the virus that remains endemic in the country, experts said Sunday . A 20-year-old man from a province neighbouring the capital Hanoi was killed by the H5N1 strain a week ago,...

Vietnam Plans Human Trial of Bird Flu Vaccine

Vietnam plans to start its first human trial of a locally-made H5N1 bird flu vaccine as early as next month, using 20 to 30 volunteers, said health officials in the communist country. The drug trial, to be carried out with US government technical assistance, will be the latest of several global ef...

H5N1 Bird Flu Confirmed at Czech Turkey Farm

Czech officials confirmed Thursday the country's first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in poultry, at a turkey farm in the centre of the country. "It is confirmed, it is H5N1," the spokesman for the State Veterinary Administration, Zbynek Semerad, told AFP. Around 1,800 turkeys...

6,000 Turkeys Slaughtered at Czech Bird Flu Farm

Six thousand turkeys at a Czech farm where the potentially lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu was confirmed this week have been slaughtered, officials said on Friday. "All the turkeys on the farm have been killed and the process is underway for the smaller flocks in the area, around 1,000 birds in...

Egyptian Boy Has Bird Flu

A four-year-old Egyptian boy has been diagnosed as having contracted the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, state news agency MENA quoted the health ministry as announcing on Saturday. Emad Mohammed al-Daramalli, from the Upper Egypt province of Qena, was hospitalised with a high fever on Thursday...

Indonesia Bird Flu Victim in Recovery

A three-year-old who tested positive for bird flu has recovered from the potentially deadly illness after swift treatment, a doctor said Saturday. The girl, admitted to the regional hospital in Pekanbaru, on Sumatra island with bird flu symptoms, had contact with dead chickens that also tes...

Six Cases of H5N1 Bird Flu Confirmed in Germany

Six wild birds in Germany have died of the feared H5N1 strain of bird flu, a German institute said on Sunday. Six out of a total of 14 birds tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute institute said. A health official, Katja Guenther, said earl...

Germany Confirms Second Bird Flu Outbreak

German health officials on Tuesday confirmed that the potentially lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu had been found in wild swans in the east of the country, the second such incident here in a week. The three birds were found dead in the area around Frohburg, near Liepzig, second incidence of ...

Potentially Lethal H5N1 Bird Flu Resurfaces in Europe

Czech authorities said Wednesday the H5N1 virus, which is potentially lethal to humans, had been found in a flock of chickens after its recent discovery among wild birds in Germany. The presence of H5N1 bird flu was confirmed on a poultry farm near the village of Norin, just four kilometer...

Wild Bird Culls may Exacerbate Avian Flu Problem

More than 30 experts from 19 countries holding an international summit on bird flu in Aviemore this week are of the opinion that culls of wild birds are not an answer to the outbreaks of avian flu. The summit was organised by the Avian Flu Task Force under the UN international conve...

WHO Director Urges Nations to Share Bird Flu Virus Strains

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, has called upon all member countries not to hold back any H5N1 virus samples as that would handicap the organization in the fight contain bird blu. "If you do not share the virus with us . I would fail you," said he said...

WHO Announces Deal on Sharing Bird Flu Virus

Addressing the concerns of developing countries like Indonesia, the Unjted Nations health body, the World Health Organization (WHO), has promised efforts would be made to ensure "fair and equitable distribution of pandemic influenza vaccines at affordable prices in the event of a pandemic." A...

First Human Case of Bird Flu Confirmed in Vietnam Since 2005

Vietnamese officials have confirmed the first human case of avian influenza since 2005, state media said Friday. The Ministry of Health has officially confirmed that a 29-year-old man has been infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, two days after the suspected case was reported, according t...

China Reports Bird Flu Infection in Military

China's Health Ministry Saturday confirmed a case of H5N1 infection known as bird flu in a 19-year-old soldier. The ministry identified the man by his surname, Cheng, and said he was under treatment at a People's Liberation Army hospital. But it did not specify his unit or say whi...

Concern Expressed Over Poor Quality Bird Flu Vaccine Used in Nigeria

Commericail poultry farmers are going for vaccination of their stock against bird flu, but use of inferior quality vaccination is fraught with great risks, experts warn. Nigeria to date has officially banned the use of vaccines to tackle H5N1.Through culling, quarantine, disinfecting and sur...

Pakistan Takes Steps to Contain Bird Flu Outbreak

Pakistani authorities have intensified monitoring of over 800 poultry farms in the capital following an outbreak of bird flu in five poultry farms there, an official said Saturday. The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was detected in three farms May 22 and in two other farms the next day in Cha...

Blood from Bird Flu Survivors Provides Breakthrough in Treatment of H5N1

US researchers report that antibodies extracted from the blood of bird flu survivors have helped cure mice infected with the dreaded H5N1 bird flu virus. Scientists have long suspected that culling immune-system molecules from survivors could provide a new therapy for the hard-to-treat H5N1 f...

Indonesian Teenager Dies of Bird Flu

A teenage girl has died of bird flu in Indonesia, taking the death toll in the nation worst hit by the virus to 79, a health ministry official said Friday. The 15-year-old died on Tuesday, four days after she was admitted to hospital on the main island of Java, the official said. S...

Man Contracts Deadly Bird Flu Virus in Vietnam

A Vietnamese man has contracted the deadly bird flu virus, becoming the country's second human case since late 2005 , a health official said Saturday. The 19-year-old man tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus early this week after being admitted to the Institute of Tropical Medici...

Humans Could Face Greater Bird Flu Risk, Indonesia Warns

Researchers in Indonesia, the country worst hit by bird flu, have found preliminary evidence which suggests humans could be more susceptible to infection, an official warned Wednesday . The head of Indonesia's national committee for bird flu control, Bayu Krisnamurthi, also told reporters the ...

Five Malaysians in Hospital After Bird Flu Outbreak

Five Malaysians are in hospital with flu symptoms after an outbreak of deadly avian influenza among poultry in their village, the health minister said Friday. The five, aged between 11 months and 35 years, are in stable condition. All live within 300 metres (328 yards) of the outbreak -- M...

APEC Agree to Share Bird Flu Samples

APEC health ministers agreed Friday to share samples of the bird flu virus to help develop effective vaccines, setting aside disputes over who "owns" the disease. The 21-nation group wrapped up a meeting in Australia by signing a declaration committing them to share samples of the H5N1 virus, whic...

Girl Infected With Bird Flu in Egypt

A 10-year-old girl tested positive on Friday for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, raising to 35 the number of cases reported in Egypt, a World Health Organisation official said. John Jabbour, a WHO official in Cairo, told AFP that the girl from the southern province of Qena, whom he did...

New Bird Flu Case in Hong Kong

A dead magpie has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in Hong Kong, agricultural officials said Friday. Authorities said laboratory tests had confirmed that the bird, found dead last week in the rural New Territories area, was infected with the killer strain. They warned of ...