Trent Hills – Putting concerns about bird flu to rest (The Community Press) In a letter to the editor this week, Trent Hills Councillor Gene Brahaney wrote, "With the upcoming Centennial Celebrations in Campbellford and also the ongoing concern of an avian flu pandemic outbreak, I thought I might share some ancient history about my family." [News Source]

Baxter Begins Bird Flu Vaccine Study (KiplingerForecasts.com) (AP) DEERFIELD, Ill. Baxter International Inc. said Wednesday it started a early- to mid-stage study on its new avian flu vaccine. The Phase 1/Phase 2 clinical trial is being conducted with healthy adults in Austria and Singapore. The study aims to determine the vaccine's effectiveness and safety. [News Source]

Baxter Begins Bird Flu Vaccine Study (AP via Yahoo! Finance) Baxter International Inc. said Wednesday it started a early- to mid-stage study on its new avian flu vaccine. The Phase 1/Phase 2 clinical trial is being conducted with healthy adults in Austria and Singapore. [News Source]

Nigeria: There’s No Bird Flu In Taraba – Obasanjo (AllAfrica.com) President Olusegun Oba-sanjo yesterday denied that the Avian influenza, popularly known as Bird Flu, has been identified in Taraba State. [News Source]

Asia not the source of Nigerian outbreak of bird flu (Channel NewsAsia) PARIS - Genetic analysis of the H5N1 avian influenza that has erupted in Nigeria shows the virus hit the country in waves but none originated from Southeast Asia, the seat of the bird flu crisis. [News Source]

Nigerian containment measures cleared in bird-flu spread (CBC) The H5N1 bird flu virus likely entered Nigeria at least three times, but the strain did not originate in Southeast Asia, the hotbed of the current poultry outbreak, a new genetic analysis suggests. [News Source]

Nigeria: Obasanjo Denies Media Report Over Alleged Bird Flu in Taraba (AllAfrica.com) President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday described as false media report (not Daily Champion) alleging an outbreak of Avian influenza in Taraba State. [News Source]

Strategy created to fight avian flu. Fatalities so great that morgues and funeral homes are overwhelmed. Schools and businesses are shuttered. People are quarantined and public gatherings are canceled. These scenarios could play out if a pandemic flu ever broke out. [News Source]

Maryland Testing Geese for Avian Flu (WBOC 16) LEONARDTOWN , Md., (AP)- Herding honking wild geese into pens on a hot, humid July day is the mission of a team of state biologists looking to see if a potentially deadly strain of the avian flu virus has reached Maryland. [News Source]

Human Avian Influenza Follows Seasonal Patterns, U.N. Finds (U.S. Department of State) A new study of the incidence of avian influenza in humans suggests that the disease follows the same patterns as seasonal human influenza with an increase in cases during the winter months of the Northern Hemisphere. That tentative conclusion was issued in the Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER), published June 30 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The study also suggested “an upsurge in [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]

Bird flu plans critical for companies, executive says (NorthJersey.com) Businesses that haven't considered how to stay afloat during an avian flu pandemic should make it priority. It's a warning that disaster preparedness experts have been repeating with increasing urgency. [News Source]