Researcher denies trying to pull bird flu report (Reuters via Yahoo! Asia News) BOSTON (Reuters) - A researcher who reported that a Chinese man may have died from avian influenza before anyone else in China was known to have the disease denied on Friday he tried to have the report retracted, according to the U.S. journal that published the report. [News Source]

West African ministers meet on strategies to fight bird flu (AFP via Yahoo! News) West African ministers adopted a plan for fighting the outbreak of deadly avian influenza in the region and preventing its spread to humans. [News Source]

What you can catch from the waves. With waste-tainted water closing beaches and making swimmers sick, the EPA is under mounting pressure to bring some of the country's most celebrated strips of sand back from contamination. [News Source]

Research raises questions about China’s bird-flu approach. Research suggesting China had its first human case of virulent bird flu two years earlier than it has said raises questions about the spread of the disease and the accuracy and openness of the Chinese government. [News Source]

WHO says H5N1 virus mutated slightly in Indonesian family. A World Health Organization investigation showed that the H5N1 virus mutated slightly in an Indonesian family cluster on Sumatra island, but bird flu experts insisted Friday it did not increase the possibility of a human pandemic. [News Source]

Human Bird Flu Transmission Is Proven in Indonesia (Update3) (Bloomberg.com) June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu was spread directly between members of an Indonesian family in the first laboratory-confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of the lethal virus, a World Health Organization official said. [News Source]

West African ministers meet on strategies to fight bird flu (AFP via Yahoo! News) West African ministers have met here to develop measures aimed at fighting the outbreak of deadly avian influenza in the region. [News Source]

Ames lab prepares for avian flu testing (Iowa Farmer) AMES (AP) -- The government’s elaborate network for diagnosing bird flu will eventually come down to a sprawling 640-acre campus in the Iowa countryside where strict security is the only hint of the crucial role scientists there could play. [News Source]

Human Bird Flu Transmission Is Proven in Indonesia (Update1) (Bloomberg.com) June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu was spread directly between members of an Indonesian family in the first laboratory- confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of the lethal virus, a World Health Organization official said. [News Source]

Bird Flu Was Spread by Humans on Indonesian Island (Update1) (Bloomberg.com) June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Human-to-human transmission is the most likely cause of bird flu last month in seven members of a family living on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, the country's Ministry of Health said. [News Source]

Bird Flu Cases May Be Harder to Detect in China, Indonesia (Bloomberg.com) June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Human bird flu cases may be harder to detect in China and Indonesia because vaccination programs mask the virus in poultry. [News Source]

Residents refuse bird flu testing (The Jakarta Post) JAKARTA: Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari is gravely concerned about some North Sumatra villagers' refusal to have their blood tested for the avian flu virus after a bird flu outbreak killed seven people in the Tanah Karo regency. [News Source]