Avian Influenza and the Pandemic Threat

Is China covering up another flu pandemic -- or getting it right this time? (By Laurie Garrett) {Foreign Policy, 04/24/2013}

Warnings about the emergence of another influenza virus may elicit scepticism, but we should not be complacent, cautions Peter Horby. {Avian Flu Diary, 04/24/2013}

Australian health authorities are preparing to combat China's new strain of bird flu amid fears it is one of the most lethal influenza viruses the world has seen. {The Sydney Morning Herald, 04/25/2013}

Authorities in central Vietnam culled nearly 10,000 swifts after samples of dead birds tested positive for the type A H5N1 influenza virus, news reports said on Thursday. {Bangkok Post, 04/25/2013}

Chinese scientists have confirmed for the first time that a new strain of bird flu that has killed 23 people in China has been transmitted to humans from chickens. {Reuters, 04/25/2013}

Several governments in Asia have ordered tougher screening of air travelers from China in an effort to contain a possible spread of a new strain of bird flu that has killed 23 people in the mainland and infected one visitor from Taiwan. {Reuters, 04/25/2013}

The novel avian H7N9 flu that has erupted in China has led to critical illness in most of the first 82 confirmed cases, researchers reported. {MedPage Today, 04/25/2013}

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said Thursday that healthcare institutions in Singapore are on heightened alert and are prepared for the eventuality of a possible H7N9 avian influenza case. {Channel News Asia, 04/25/2013}

Taiwan heightened surveillance of travelers from China on Thursday after authorities confirmed the island’s first case of a new deadly strain of bird flu. The 53-year-old man became ill with fever after returning from a visit to the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu on April 9, the Centers for Disease Control {Asian Correspondent, 04/25/2013}

Poultry products are still favoured by many Hanoi consumers, despite the risk of a nationwide bird flu crisis. {Asia News Network, 04/25/2013}