Sep 06 - US Blinks First in Bird Flu Standoff

U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services) says it 'regrets the recent delays in the transfer of avian influenza virus samples...' Avian Influenza Blog

Jan 21 Bird flu Bumbling in New Zealand

An opportunity to demonstrate avian bird flu preparedness in New Zealand yesterday failed to impress. Arriving from Australia, a Philippines visitor outwardly showing symptoms of viral infection was tagged by staff as possible risk .....
Read more Jan 21 Bird flu Bumbling in New Zealand

Dec 26 Sinovac Scores Big with Bird Flu Vaccine

Sinovac announces clinical trials of a potential vaccine for avian bird flu. Allowed by the Chinese to fast-track human.. Read more Sinovac Scores Big with Bird Flu Vaccine

Dec 05: Bird flu virus in Leaky Aerosol Chamber

Complacency grows with widespread use of scientific samples of the H5N1 bird flu virus. New Zealand has announced intentions to import and tinker with..

Nov 17 China Export - Gains from Bird Flu

A star-shaped fruit called Star Anise of a small oriental tree holds the key to unlocking Tamiflu production. According to a Roche presentation 13 grams of Star Anise can produce enough Shikimic acid, a raw material for 10 capsules of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu).

So as world demand for the anti-viral Tamiflu rises so does the demand for Shikimic acid. It is argued that treatment of the world population will be constrained by the availability of Star Anise.

Already the price of Shikimic acid from China has soared to more than $400 a kilogram, from just $40

Teen Deaths Tamiflu Cause or Cure

13th November 2005
Tamiflu medicine tied to teen deaths and strange behavior as two Japanese newspapers report abnormal reactions to the drug. Read more on Tamiflu risks and deaths in Japan

Resistant Bird Flu Growing in Vietnam - Helped by Drugs

Monday 9th November, 2005
Congratulations to Vietnam for being approved and licensed as a producer of Tamiflu or Oseltamivir a neuraminidase inhibitor.

Roche Holding AG the sole patent for holders for Tamiflu who once stated that the manufacture of Tamiflu an avian bird flu inhibitor was too complex to allow others to produce it, has now granted permission to a third world country. news.bbc.co.uk

Serious problems here though, as there are already Tamiflu resistant H5N1 strains of birdflu appearing, according to ....

Bird Flu Pandemic: Kills by Cytokine Storm?

Monday 7th November, 2005

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, during the 1918 pandemic strain of avian flu more than half the deaths occurred paradoxically among largely healthy people between 18 and 40 years of age.

The cause of death being a virus-induced cytokine storm that led to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

This cytokine storm occurs ... more from avian bird flu blog

Monday, October 31, 2005 England a soft target for bird flu

Almost a month after the avian flu infected parrot died in British quarantine the Environment secretary has finally announced a tightening of the rules for quarantine.

The blame game has finished now with no answers to the question how did these parrots get infected. More on this - England a soft target for bird flu.

Saturday, October 29, 2005 Dead Parrot Outsmarts Abysmal British Quarantine

An infected parrot being fed and watered at a British quarantine facility has been found to have H5N1 avian bird flu and been killed.

Whilst this gives the appearance that the quarantine system works, the reality is that the system failed. You see the British traced back the origin of the parrot to Suriname a South American location, surprisingly a location without avian bird flu. More on this - Dead Parrot Outsmarts Abysmal British Quarantine.

Sunday, October 23, 2005 China to mutate killer bird flu virus first

All eyes are on China as the breading ground for the mutation of the bird flu virus.

Virus hunter Dr. Guan Yi and his team the discoverers of masked palm civet, raccoon dog and hog badger as SARS carriers are to set-up operations in China. More on this - China to mutate killer bird flu virus first.

Protection from avian bird flu - lessons from computer security

How does a country protect itself from the avian bird flu? One method of rapid widespread bird flu infection once human infection begins will be from infected travellers carrying the virus into new destinations. An important initial step to gain time for vaccine production will be to. More on this - Protection from avian bird flu - lessons from computer security

Crazy talk about bird flu Tamiflu and Relenza

The Government should have stockpiled half Tamiflu, half Relenza. "It would have been wise to buy half of each," he said. "Putting all your eggs in one basket is a bit silly." More -->
Actually filling the basket with eggs makes sense! Crazy talk about bird flu Tamiflu and.Relenza

Compare bird flu to computer virus outbreaks

Computer systems have some parallels to bird flu outbreaks - perhaps we can learn something from this Compare expected bird flu pandemic with that of protecting computer systems.