Agriculture department to expand bird flu program. An expanded program to monitor any outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in wild birds will be announced on Monday by the United States Department of Agriculture. [News Source]

State’s big poultry industry raises bird-flu stakes. Although the avian influenza virus has not reached the United States, Indiana wildlife and emergency management officials -- operating under the assumption it eventually will reach the Hoosier state -- are drawing up plans to monitor and test wild birds, warn the public and keep the virus from spreading to domestic animals. [News Source]

Farmers, government strive to keep poultry safe from deadly flu. While state health officials are preparing for a possible influenza pandemic among humans, Utah agriculture and wildlife workers are watching for migratory birds that could be infected with the deadly H5N1 virus. [News Source]

Scared sick? Not to worry. Given the media frenzy flogging exotic afflictions like mad cow disease, Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), bacterial meningitis, West Nile virus, and Lyme disease--and in the wake of a top Bush official’s advice that we brace for a possible avian-flu pandemic by stocking up on tuna--how scared should we really be? [News Source]

Chicken curry goes underground as Myanmar battles bird flu

Myanmar’s first bird flu outbreak has swept chickens from markets in this central city but in a country with a thriving black market, many know how to get their hands on illicit poultry.

[News Source]

Culling over, India monitors doctor for bird flu

A doctor with fever and respiratory problems was under observation in western India where tens of thousands of birds were culled to contain a second outbreak of avian flu, officials said on Sunday.

[News Source]

Up to a-half million birds to be slaughtered as bird flu

Veterinary officials in Israel are going ahead with the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens amid bird flu concerns.

[News Source]

Egypt reports second suspected human case of bird flu

An Egyptian man had been suspected of being infected by the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, the second human infection reported in the populous north African country in two days, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported on Sunday.

[News Source]

Israel confirms deadly H5N1 bird flu

Israel confirmed the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain had been found in thousands of fowl, as four people were confined to isolation units and the authorities halted all poultry exports.

[News Source]