Transfusions ‘may cut flu deaths’. Transfusions of blood products might help to cut deaths in a future flu pandemic, research suggests. [News Source]

Bird flu: Who’s next? Bangladesh!The Role of Public Administration (News From Bangladesh) In comparison to malaria and diarroeal diseases, which together kill over 3 million people every year, bird flu has killed very few people. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the H5N1 virus may mutate into a new human flu virus against, which humans have no immunity. [News Source]

DEADLY VIRUS Dog contracts avian flu (The Nation) A dog in Suphan Buri contracted bird flu after eating infected ducks, new findings show. Prof Dr Yong Pooworawan, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, released the findings at a seminar at the university yesterday. [News Source]

Helping Prevent Avian Influenza in Latin America and the Caribbean (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance) In order to help prevent a possible outbreak of avian flu in Latin America and the Caribbean and enhance public awareness of the threat posed by the disease, FAO has just published a new handbook targeted especially to the region's small-scale poultry farmers. [News Source]

Is rural Virginia ready for the Avian Flu? (Northern Virginia Times Community) "We're due for a pandemic. Avian influenza could be it," said Kathy Hatter, emergency planner for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, which includes Rappahannock County. "And we know when it comes it will be no small matter." [News Source]

University Of Pittsburgh Receives $1.3 Million From NIH To Develop Promising Avian Flu Vaccine (Medical News Today) The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., has awarded a $1.3 million, two-year grant to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to produce a promising avian flu vaccine that could be used in Phase I and Phase II human clinical trials. [click link for full article] [News Source]

Biologists test for bird flu in Alaska (AP via Yahoo! News) Hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle, biologists working in the frosty marshes of Alaska's North Slope are keeping a lookout for migratory birds that might bring a deadly avian flu strain to the United States. [News Source]

UN food body issues bird flu guide for Latin America (AFP via Yahoo! News) The United Nations food and agriculture agency has said it had produced a booklet preparing small-scale poultry producers in Latin America and the Caribbean for the possible arrival of bird flu. [News Source]

Is rural Virginia ready for the Avian Flu? (Fairfax Times) "We're due for a pandemic. Avian influenza could be it," said Kathy Hatter, emergency planner for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, which includes Rappahannock County. "And we know when it comes it will be no small matter." [News Source]

Two more suspected human bird flu patients treated in Indonesia (AFP via Yahoo! News) Two more people from a bird flu-hit area in Indonesia's West Java have been admitted to hospital on suspicion of contracting avian influenza, health officials have said. [News Source]

Is rural Virginia ready for the Avian Flu? (Fairfax Times) "We're due for a pandemic. Avian influenza could be it," said Kathy Hatter, emergency planner for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, which includes Rappahannock County. "And we know when it comes it will be no small matter." [News Source]

Cheap bird flu vaccine, a boon to poor farmers (Gulf Times) BHOPAL: A vaccine to prevent avian flu developed by a research institute here could be available for as little as 35 paise (less than a cent) per dose, proving a boon to poor farmers who have been affected by the epidemic. [News Source]