Bird Flu Detected in Three People in Iowa, Study Finds (National Geographic) A duck hunter and two wildlife workers have tested positive for a nonlethal form of avian flu, scientists say, the first sign that bird flu can be transmitted to humans by wild birds. [News Source]

NanoDetection Technology and Leading Centers of Excellence Announce Partnership to Develop Onsite Avian Flu Detection (SYS-CON Media) Today, NanoDetection Technology, an in vitro diagnostics company that has a patented system for detecting the presence of specific genes or pathogens within a biological or environmental sample, and its partners announced that they are collaborating to develop an avian influenza (avian flu or 'bird flu') test and mobile detection product. Collaborators include: The University of Tennessee Health [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]

Dutch report low-pathogenic bird flu at farm (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Dutch authorities have detected a low-pathogenic H7 bird flu strain at a poultry farm and stepped up measures to prevent a major outbreak in one of the world's top poultry exporter, the farm ministry said on Tuesday. [News Source]

NanoDetection Technology and Leading Centers of Excellence Announce Partnership to Develop Onsite Avian Flu Detection (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance) Today, NanoDetection Technology, an in vitro diagnostics company that has a patented system for detecting the presence of specific genes or pathogens within a biological or environmental sample, and its partners announced that they are collaborating to develop an avian influenza test and mobile detection product. [News Source]

Dutch report low-pathogenic bird flu in farm (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Dutch authorities have detected a low-pathogenic bird flu strain in a poultry farm in the central region of Gelderse Vallei, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday. [News Source]

Bird flu findings cautiously optimistic (Chicago Tribune) An experiment combining bird flu with a common human strain failed to create a pandemic virus, suggesting that it may be more difficult for bird flu to mutate into a form that is easily transmissible among humans, federal scientists said Monday. [News Source]

Thailand May Jail Recalcitrant Farmers Over Bird Flu (Update2) (Bloomberg.com) Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand vowed to jail farmers who fail to promptly report poultry deaths and the country closed land borders to fowl trade to stem outbreaks of bird flu that killed a 17-year-old man last week. [News Source]

Study shows that bird flu-human flu virus mixed strain does not spread easily (EARTHtimes.org) U.S. scientists conducted a series of tests by combining genes from the H5N1 avian flu virus and the human flu virus to see whether the resultant strain had the ability to spread easily. They found that the resultant artificially engineered virus fell short of the feature needed to cause a pandemic, that of easy transmissibility. [News Source]

Government urged to give farmers proper understanding of bird flu spread (MCOT) BANGKOK, Aug 1 (TNA) – The government should speed up giving small farmers proper knowledge and understanding of how to prevent a spread of the avian influenza so that the new outbreak of the disease could be curbed efficiently, according to an industry executive. [News Source]

Government urged to give farmers proper understanding of bird flu spread (MCOT) BANGKOK, August 1 (TNA) – The government should speed up giving small farmers proper knowledge and understanding of how to prevent a spread of an avian influenza so that the outbreak of the disease could be curb efficiently, according to an industry executive. [News Source]

Bird flu pandemic alarm more muted (Houston Chronicle) A bird flu pandemic may not come as soon as some public health experts have feared. Federal scientists studying the disease have found evidence suggesting the avian influenza virus must undergo "significant genetic changes" before a strain emerges that humans could easily pass to one another, like a common cold. [News Source]