The H5N1 virus confirmed in 55 countries - has caused 220 million bird deaths - 143 human deaths.

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Multiple mutations in Indonesian bird flu strain LONDON (Reuters) - Multiple mutations have been found in the H5N1 bird flu virus that killed seven family members in Indonesia although scientists are unsure of their significance, a leading science journal said on Thursday.  But researchers believe the findings reinforce the need for bird flu data to be more widely available to improve understanding of the deadly virus.

Has feared mutation of avian flu arrived? Doctors in Thailand, Indonesia see 1st signs of human-to-human spread. Officials in at least two nations now suspect the avian flu bug has mutated into a virus that is being transmitted from human to human – a development world health authorities have estimated could result in the deaths of tens of millions. Thai health officials have expressed concern that the country's two latest confirmed victims may be the beginning of the much feared human-to-human transmission. Read the whole story...

White House Set to Unveil Pandemic Flu Plan Employers should have plans to keep workers at least three feet apart, colleges should consider which dormitories could be used to quarantine the sick, and flight crews should have surgical masks Story...

Bird flu hits small farms, paves way to new disease could spell the end for small poultry farmers and open the door to more diseases at intensive farms, campaigners said...

Bird flu a bigger challenge than AIDS, warns WHO "Concern has mounted progressively, and events in recent weeks justify that concern," Dr Chan, who is leading WHO's efforts against bird flu, told a meeting in Geneva on global efforts to prepare for the possibility of the flu mutating into a form easily transmitted among humans.

Man Said to Have Died From Bird Flu in Iraq The dead uncle of an Iraqi girl who died last month after contracting bird flu also had the disease, U.S. and U.N. officials said Thursday, citing test results at a U.N.-certified laboratory in Egypt.  Story...

Bird flu spreads across europe Europe threw up protective zones to keep the ever-expanding bird flu from spreading to humans and devastating the continent's poultry industry, even as researchers warned a future pandemic could kill 142 million people worldwide.

Human cases of H5N1 avian flu may have been missed A new study of human cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Thailand suggests that a number of cases might have gone undetected and that the disease may prey on children disproportionately. Story...

Bird flu claims rising toll among people JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia said on Monday a 20-year-old woman had died of bird flu while several countries reported new suspected human cases of the deadly virus. The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed more than 60 people in Asia and is endemic in most poultry flocks in the region. It remains hard for humans to catch but scientists fear it will mutate into a form that passes easily among people. If it does so, millions could die as happened during three flu pandemics in the 20th century. Read entire story...

Reference and information

• Bird Flu - there are at least 15 different types of avian viruses that routinely infect birds around the world. The current outbreak is caused by a strain known as H5N1, which is highly contagious among birds and rapidly fatal. Unlike many other strains of avian influenza, it can be transmitted to humans, causing severe illness and death. More...
   
• Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) H5N1 is a type of avian influenza virus (bird flu virus) that has mutated through antigenic drift into dozens of highly pathogenic varieties. The first of these appeared in China in 1996 in birds and in Hong Kong in 1997 in humans. More...
   
• Avian Flu Virus Showing Resistance to Tamiflu -  Be aware that scientists in Hong Kong have reported that avian flu has shown resistance to the widely used antiviral drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) More...
   
• Avian flu: Nature - With the arrival of avian flu on the shores of Europe, all eyes are on the H5N1 virus now endemic in domestic and wild birds in Asia. Though human-to-human transmission has yet to be properly established, the virus is deadly: since 2003, almost half of the 120 the people who have caught H5N1 from infected birds have died. More...
   
• Avian Flu Fact Sheet - A number of countries are reporting cases of avian influenza, commonly referred
  to as “bird flu” in their domestic and wild bird populations. More...
   
• NIAID Initiates Trial of Experimental Avian Flu Vaccine Questions and Answers: H5N1 Avian Flu Vaccine Trials NIAID's Web site on influenza research: Focus on the Flu.  More...
   
•  H5N1 Avian influenza News and Headlines by Microbes. Avian influenza news, headlines, information resources and links on microorganisms, microbes, and microbiology by microbes.info  More...
   
• A Naturopathic Approach to Virus Protection a Naturopathic Approach
   
• What do you know about bird flu? H5N1 Bird flu has been around for nearly 50 years, and was first isolated not in China, Korea or Thailand, but in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1959.
   
• President's speech on November 1, 2005