H5N1

Abuja -- 13 August 2008 -- Animal health specialists warn a new strain of highly pathogenic bird flu in Nigeria - which has previously not been recorded in sub-Saharan Africa - increases the risk of avian influenza spreading to other countries in West Africa.

Nigeria's bird flu officials blame infected migratory birds from Europe or Central Asia for the spread of the new strain of H5N1 to the country.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization says the newly discovered virus strain is genetically different from the strain that circulated in Nigeria in 2006 and 2007.

The U.N. food agency says the new strain is similar to ones previously identified in Italy, Afghanistan and Iran, last year.    » read more »

08 April 2008 -- Chinese health officials have confirmed earlier speculation that a father contracted bird flu from his son last December.

Researchers from Beijing's Chinese Center for Disease Control said a 24-year-old man spread the disease to his 52-year-old father in China's eastern province of Jiangsu. The son died, but the father survived.

H5N1 virions: Photo Credit: Cynthia Goldsmith / Jackie Katz / CDC

In a report released Tuesday, the researchers said tests showed the two men were infected with almost genetically identical strains of the H5N1 virus. They also found that 91 people who had come into close contact with the men had not been infected with the virus.    » read more »

24 January 2008 -- The United Nations is warning that bird flu outbreaks have spread to 15 countries, making the disease a global threat that requires close monitoring.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released a statement Thursday, calling for more monitoring and greater efforts to contain the virus.

The outbreaks have been reported since December and involve mostly domesticated poultry infected with the virulent H5N1 strain.    » read more »

15 January 2008 -- Indian health officials have confirmed that an outbreak of bird flu in the eastern part of the country, near Bangladesh, is the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.

The new outbreak has already killed about 35,000 birds in the state of West Bengal. The state's minister for animal resources, Anisur Rahaman, Tuesday said the poultry deaths were reported from farms in the Morgram village in the Birbhum District, and in south Dinajpur.    » read more »

17 December 2007 -- Officials in Benin say tests have confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on two poultry farms.

Agriculture Minister Roger Dovonou says tests from a laboratory in Italy confirmed the virus has struck one farm in the city of Cotonou and another in the town of Adjarra, outside the capital Porto Novo.

Benin reported its first suspected cases of bird flu on December 7th. Workers slaughtered several hundred chickens at the two farms as a precautionary measure, and also disinfected the sites.    » read more »

16 August 2007 -- Indonesia's Health Ministry says a 17-year-old woman has died of bird flu.

Authorities say the woman died Tuesday in Tangerang, west of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. She is the 83rd Indonesian to have died of the virus.

Earlier this week, a 29-year-old woman living on the island of Bali died of the disease, becoming the resort island's first known human fatality from the often-deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.    » read more »