Daily Bird Flu News Updates:
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BIRD FLU LATEST: Russia bird flu could spread to EU - vet official; Vietnam starts mass vaccination
Reuters - 1st August 2005
Russia bird flu could spread to EU - vet official
RUSSIA - A strain of bird flu dangerous to humans that has been found in Siberia could spread to parts of the European Union, a senior Russian veterinary official warned on Monday. The official from the Russian Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspection Service told Reuters that the chances were "very high" that the strain found in the Novosibirsk region could spread to other parts of Siberia.
BBC - 1st August 2005
Russia plans bird flu slaughter
RUSSIA - The Russian authorities plan to begin slaughtering poultry on Tuesday in 18 Siberian villages where bird flu has been detected. The strain found in the Novosibirsk region has been identified as H5N1 - the type that has killed at least 57 people in South-East Asia since 2003.
recombinomics.com - 1st August 2005
The Export of a H5N1 Bird Flu Pandemic By China
CHINA - Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said, "We would hope that these samples would be sent to a WHO international reference lab outside the country. This is standard for verification. To confirm that it is H5N1, it is important that these tests are done outside the country,"
BBC - 1st August 2005
UK firm's bird flu vaccine hope
UK - A British firm has developed a bird flu vaccine which could be easily mass produced, officials say. PowerMed's vaccine is further away from the market than others, but as it is a DNA-based, it may be easier to produce than traditional egg-grown flu shots. The firm said 1.2kg of the vaccine, which is expected to enter clinical trials next year, would be enough to vaccinate the US population twice over. More than 50 people have died from bird flu in south east Asia.
news24.com - 1st August 2005
Vietnam starts mass vaccination
VIETNAM - Vietnamese authorities are vaccinating three million birds in a southern province, officials said on Monday, as nationwide efforts got underway to contain bird flu, which has killed 41 people in the country. The trial vaccination started on Saturday in Tien Giang province, in the heart of the fertile Mekong Delta where large-scale poultry farming abounds.
Reuters - 1st August 2005
Netherlands sees no threat from Russian bird flu
THE NETHERLANDS - The Dutch farm ministry played down fears on Monday that a strain of bird flu found in Russia could spread to the Netherlands, saying no extra protection measures were needed. The Russian Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspection Service warned earlier on Monday that the strain dangerous to humans could spread to parts of the European Union, including the Netherlands and France.