There’s No Bird Flu in Taraba – Obasanjo (This Day) President Olusegun Oba-sanjo yesterday denied that the Avian influenza, popularly known as Bird Flu, has been identified in Taraba State. Speaking to a delegation of the Poultry Association of Nigeria in the State House, Obasanjo said, “it has not been diagnosed or classified as avian flu. [News Source]

WHO lab confirms 40th Indonesian avian flu death (CIDRAP) Jul 3, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – A 5-year-old boy who died Jun 16 in East Java province has become Indonesia's 40th death from H5N1 avian influenza, according to test results from a World Health Organization (WHO)-accredited lab, as reported today by Reuters. [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]

Ethiopia: Avian Flu Contingency Plan Approved (AllAfrica.com) Ethiopia's national avian flu coordination committee has approved a multi-million dollar contingency plan to strengthen preparedness in the event of the disease spreading here. [News Source]

ALBANIA: World Bank Approves USD 5 mln Avian Flu Control Project Credit for Albania (seeurope.net) This project will assist the government of Albania to strengthen the country's capacity to prevent the spread of bird flu among poultry, to prevent the transmission of the flu from birds to other animals and humans, and to prepare for a potential pandemic of bird flu transmissible between humans. [News Source]

NZ backyard poultry survey will help understand bird flu spread. A research project about to get underway in New Zealand is expected to break new ground in understanding how bird flu spreads. [News Source]

Deadly bird flu strain found in Nigeria. The most lethal strain of bird flu has been detected in the eastern Nigerian state of Taraba, bringing to 15 the number of states, out of a total of 36, to be affected by the virus, a state official said Saturday. [News Source]

It kept quiet about Sars — now has China been caught out over bird flu? This curious tale involves the death of a holidaymaker in China, an international medical journal and a mysterious e-mail whose authorship is yet to be determined. [News Source]

South Africa Aims to Contain Bird Flu (AP via Yahoo! Finance) A Western Cape farm has been placed under quarantine and all 60 of its ostriches culled in a bid to contain an outbreak of avian influenza, the Department of Agriculture said Monday. [News Source]

KCSO undergoes bird flu training (Camden Chronicle Independent) The Kershaw County Sheriff`s Office recently completed training that could potentially save hundreds of lives. All employees at the sheriff`s office took part in Pandemic Influenza Preparedness classes, which covered information about bird flu. [News Source]

Bird flu kills younger people, copying 1918 pandemic, WHO says (Budapest Business Journal) Bird flu tends to kill younger people, mirroring the pattern of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, and the risk of the virus causing a worldwide outbreak in humans remains high, a World Health Organization study said. [News Source]