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Recombinomics has four new H5N1 articles for today, plus one from yesterday, all of which are worth reading.

My personal conclusion from these articles:
1. Very poor sample collection means we have no idea how many cases there are in Indonesia.
2. That we are at stage 5 looks very likely, but we are not at stage 6.
3. It is spreading more easily from birds to humans, including casual contact. Eating an infected bird is not necessary.
4. The general population currently includes many infected people. If it is now capable of sustained human to human transmission, we will know soon, perhaps within a week.

Daily Bird Flu News Updates:

Reuters - 30th September 2005
Taiwan tech firms begin bird flu precautions
TAIWAN - Stung by the SARS outbreak two years ago, some of Taiwan's top technology firms are beginning to take precautions against bird flu in case the virus evolves into an even deadlier form and threatens operations. Taking a page from the measures adopted against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, electronics firms said an outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu in China could have serious consequences on their factories there. http://www.thepoultrysite.com/LatestNews/Default.asp?AREA=LatestNews&Display=8420

BBC - 30th September 2005
Bird flu 'could kill 150m people'
GLOBAL - A new flu pandemic could happen at any time and kill between 5-150 million people, a UN health official warned. David Nabarro, who is charged with co-ordinating responses to bird flu, said a mutation of the virus affecting Asia could trigger new outbreaks. "The consequences in terms of human life when the pandemic does start are going to be extraordinary and very damaging," Dr Nabarro told the BBC. Bird flu has swept through poultry and wild birds in Asia since 2003. It has killed huge numbers of birds and lead to more than 60 human deaths. http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4292426.stm

Daily Bird Flu News Updates:
The Times - 3rd October 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1805397,00.html
British flu pandemic 'will kill 50,000'
UK - A British flu pandemic is inevitable and will put the lives of tens of thousands of people at risk, according to the country’s top medical officer. Sir Liam Donaldson said today that it was a "biological inevitability" that when the pandemic arrives, it would have a "serious impact". The Chief Medical Officer for England said that the government’s contingency plans were looking at 50,000 deaths in the UK from the pandemic. He added that a pandemic could arrive at any time and that it was impossible to state that Britain was ready to cope.

Reuters - 30th September 2005
Taiwan tech firms begin bird flu precautions
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/LatestNews/Default.asp?AREA=LatestNews&Display=8420
TAIWAN - Stung by the SARS outbreak two years ago, some of Taiwan's top technology firms are beginning to take precautions against bird flu in case the virus evolves into an even deadlier form and threatens operations. Taking a page from the measures adopted against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, electronics firms said an outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu in China could have serious consequences on their factories there.