WSJ Avian Flu News Tracker
The Wall Street Journal (requires subscription) is running an excellent Avian Flu News Tracker.
Before we continue, you may want to bookmark this link from the World Health Organization. It’s the definitive source for bird flu deaths around the globe.
[tease] (selected WSJ avian flu factoids)
China confirmed two new outbreaks of bird flu in poultry, bringing to 15 the number of cases reported in China since Oct. 19.
Vietnam said bird flu has spread to two more northern provinces as the government called for a meeting of Pacific Rim health officials to seek ways to prevent a human pandemic.
Bird flu may be more likely to mutate into a form transmissible from human to human if it infects people with AIDS, who have compromised immune systems, the BBC quoted Robert Webster, a doctor speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations conference, as saying. H5N1 has not yet reached East Africa, where HIV and AIDS are rampant, the BBC article noted, but it is the final destination for many birds currently migrating from infected areas. [BBC report]