Agriculture Commissioner says TV movie may mislead public on the facts about avian influenza (The Weekly) ATLANTA, GA (May 11, 2006) - Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said today that he felt last night’s fictional TV movie ‘Fatal Contact’ may confuse people when they hear the words “avian influenza” or “bird flu.” [News Source]

Is avian flu headed to California? Migratory birds infected with avian flu H5N1 are expected to arrive this fall in the United States, heading down the West Coast along the Pacific Flyway. [News Source]

Treat elderly last in pandemic: Study. The sick and elderly should be the last to be given a flu vaccine in a pandemic, according to a controversial paper published today in the journal Science. [News Source]

Generics work against bird flu. A pair of generic drugs that are plentiful and cheaper than Tamiflu could gain further credibility as a bird-flu treatment because of a study in a prominent U.S. scientific journal. [News Source]

Flu vaccine priorities test pandemic planning. As the government prepares for a potential pandemic influenza outbreak, one of the thorniest questions to arise is who should be first in line for limited supplies of antiviral medicine and vaccine. [News Source]

Green lawn not all it’s cut out to be. Spring is finally here, which means a few things - the birds are chirping, the flowers are preparing to bloom, the kids are playing outside every moment they can and the yellow pesticide flags are popping up as people prepare their lawns to produce a blanket of green. [News Source]

Human Bird Flu Appears in Djibouti, First in Horn of Africa (U.S. Department of State) Djibouti is the latest country to report the appearance of highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with a May 12 account of illness in a 2-year-old girl. The child’s symptoms first appeared April 23, and the presence of the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed now by the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU-3), a Cairo-based [News Source]

Human Bird Flu Case Confirmed In Djibouti (Medical News Today) The Djibouti Ministry of Health has confirmed that a 2-year-old girl is infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus strain. The girl is from a village in the Arta district. On the 23rd April she started to exhibit bird flu like symptoms. Doctors say her condition is 'stable'. A further three human cases are currently being investigated. [click link for full article] [News Source]

U.S. Collaborating with International Groups on Bird Flu Plans (U.S. Department of State) The United States is collaborating with major international bodies to help countries affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, control and eradicate the disease, according to a senior U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official. Testifying May 11 before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Ron DeHaven, administrator of the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [News Source]

Businesses plan now for bird flu (Portsmouth Herald) PORTSMOUTH - The Boy Scouts isn’t the only organization asking its members to be prepared. Businesses and institutions around the Seacoast are telling employees to plan for a potential outbreak of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu. [News Source]

BioTech Medics, Inc. Seeking Testing of Patented SHBAN Solution as Anti-Viral Disinfectant for Use Against Bird Flu (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance) BioTech Medics, Inc., has contacted the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta to seek testing of SHBAN Solution as an anti-viral disinfectant in killing the Avian Influenza, Influenza A Bird Flu viruses in topical and field use. [News Source]