WHO should allow Taiwan to participate. For nine years in a row, China has thwarted Taiwan's bid to participate in meetings of the United Nations' WHO, despite this decade's SARS and avian flu outbreaks in Asia. [News Source]

State must plan for bird flu. If a deadly avian flu strikes the United States, the states, including Colorado, should be prepared to go it alone without help from the federal government. [News Source]

Bay Area lab at the front lines of bird flu effort. The California Department of Health Services' Richmond Campus has seen several adrenaline-pumping moments in recent months when it appeared bird flu had reached American shores. [News Source]

An eagerly awaited bird flu vaccine comes up short. There is a protective shot against bird flu, researchers reported last week. An occasion for joy and relief? Not quite. [News Source]

Pet health records to help track bird flu? Health experts say the medical records of cats and dogs could serve as an early warning system for diseases such as avian flu. [News Source]

ID plan aims to track animals. A new national system, designed to prevent the spread of diseases such as avian flu and mad cow disease, aims to track every livestock animal in the nation -- be it a cow on a feed lot, a farm-raised trout or a backyard goat. [News Source]

Niger begins cull weeks after finding bird flu. Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, began culling poultry on Sunday, more than a month after it first discovered an outbreak of deadly avian flu near its southern border with Nigeria. [News Source]

Schools draft plans for avian flu. As fears of a global flu pandemic intensify, Massachusetts schools are urgently planning how they would feed thousands of stranded college students, educate children who can't come to class, and care for research animals. [News Source]