Indonesia: 7 in Same Village Tested for Bird Flu (New York Times) The seven cases in the village of Sumber Mufakat, in the Karo district of Sumatra, have raised new concerns about human-to-human transmission of bird flu. [News Source]

Bracing For Avian Flu Pandemic (BruDirect.com) Bandar Seri Begawan - Avian flu represents a potentially far greater threat to economies of Asia and the world than SARS. [News Source]

More avian flu feared near site of Indonesian family cases (CIDRAP) Aug 2, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – Seven people in Karo district of North Sumatra, Indonesia, are being treated for suspected H5N1 avian influenza, raising concern that the disease may have resurfaced near where human-to-human transmission was documented in an extended family in May. [News Source]

Human bird flu cluster fears in Sumatra. Seven Indonesians, including three children all from the same village in Sumatra are being treated for bird flu symptoms in what doctors fear could be two new clusters of the virus. [News Source]

Bird flu mixed with human flu lacks punch. Combining genes from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus with those from a common human flu virus does not seem to create strains with instant pandemic potential, researchers have found. [News Source]

Warning given on bird flu pandemic. Avian flu could arrive in California as early as this fall via migrating birds and while that doesn't spell a flu pandemic, local communities need to do more to prepare, health officials warned at a day-long conference Tuesday. [News Source]

West Nile thriving in searing summer heat. An unusually hot summer has health officials concerned that the upcoming peak of the West Nile virus season could be worse than usual. [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 cull chickens to stop bird flu spread (Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News) Dutch authorities culled 25,000 chickens at a farm infected with a low-pathogenic H7 bird flu strain on Wednesday and sealed off another 130 farms to prevent a major outbreak in one of the world's top poultry exporter. [News Source]

Abt Associates Launches USAID-Funded Avian Influenza Surveillance And Control Project (Medical News Today) Abt Associates has beenawarded a three-year project aimed at preventing, controlling andresponding to avian influenza (AI) in countries in the Greater MekongSub-Region. The award was made by the United States Agency forInternational Development (USAID) Regional Development Mission in Bangkok,Thailand. [click link for full article] [News Source]