Tamiflu protects ferrets in avian flu study (CIDRAP) May 4, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – A new study suggests that the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) can prevent deaths in ferrets infected with H5N1 avian influenza, according to reports today from an avian flu conference in Singapore. [News Source]

Confusion over bird flu warnings (Powys County Times) THERE was confusion this week over bird flu notices warning the public not to feed water fowl in Mid Wales. The signs, which have been put up by Severn Trent Water around Lake Vyrnwy, appear to state that due to concerns over avian influenza visitors should “not feed the ducks or geese.” [News Source]

Company targets air safety inside planes. Fighting the common cold, avian flu, SARS, or an act of biological terror in a packed airplane cabin is becoming Daniel R. Dwight's key focus. [News Source]

Company targets air safety inside planes. Last week, Massachusetts-based Kronos Advanced Technologies became a partner in a Federal Aviation Administration project to improve and protect airline cabin air quality. [News Source]

Ark. agriculture officials plan farm database to fight disease. A marketing campaign costing $100,000 is planned by Arkansas agriculture officials to urge farmers to register with the government so officials can keep track of dangerous animal sicknesses like mad-cow disease. [News Source]

Wash and wonder. When consumers wash their hands with soap containing the widely used antibacterial agent triclocarban, much of it likely ends up intact in the sludge of wastewater treatments plants, which is reused as fertilizer. [News Source]

Lawmakers question safety of processing chickens in China. Spurred by concerns about bird flu, lawmakers voted Wednesday to block chicken processed in China from entering the United States. [News Source]

Bird flu plan lacks a key detail. The Bush administration's pandemic flu action plan, issued Wednesday, is a good step toward getting the nation ready for a 1918-style flu disaster, health experts say, but it's missing a key element: how to pay for it. [News Source]

Pandemic would put homeland security in charge. The plan puts the Department of Homeland Security in charge of government operations during a flu pandemic, giving a secondary role to the nation's public-health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. [News Source]

Flu-response plan urges joint effort. President Bush's plan for dealing with a flu pandemic warns that the federal government will not be able to bail out communities reeling from illness and economic upheaval, and calls on businesses and individuals to take steps now. [News Source]

Pa. says the state is preparing for flu. Pennsylvania public health officials have been preparing intensively for a flu pandemic that in a worst-case scenario could strike nearly 13 percent of the population and cause an estimated 9,000 deaths statewide. [News Source]

White house plan defers leadership in bird-flu fight. Many crucial questions about the government's response remain unanswered in the implementation plan. [News Source]