World Bank Plans For Second Bird Flu Operation In Vietnam (Bernama) BANGKOK, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- The World Bank is now planning a second phase operation to assist Vietnam overcome the reoccurrence of the deadly avian influenza or bird flu that saw more than 45 million birds killed or culled in just three months in 2004 in the country. [News Source]

Biologists’ Test Birds For Avian Flu (KGO-TV Bay Area) Researchers have identified two key genetic markers that could tell them whether bird flu might begin to pose a threat to humans. [News Source]

Wild Birds Tested For Avian Flu (KCRA TheKCRAChannel.com via Yahoo! News) State and federal biologists gathered in Yolo County on Thursday to catch and test wild birds for avian flu. [News Source]

Rice urges APEC members to quickly share bird flu data (AFP via Yahoo! News) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Asia Pacific nations to quickly share all information on bird flu outbreaks to counter the pandemic threat in the region of 2.6 billion people. [News Source]

Scientists Find Mutations That Let Bird Flu Adapt To Humans (Science Daily) By comparing influenza viruses found in birds with those of the avian virus that have also infected human hosts, researchers have identified key genetic changes required for pandemic strains of bird flu. [News Source]

Researchers discover crucial human-borne bird flu clues (Daily Yomiuri Online) A group of researchers from Tokyo University and the Japan Science and Technology Agency has discovered amino acid mutations that are believed to be responsible for changing H5N1 avian influenza viruses into a new type of virus capable of infecting humans, it was learned Thursday. [News Source]

Winter may bring more bird flu for Egypt (Middle East Online) Health ministry officials warn of increase in cases of lethal avian flu virus H5N1 among fowl, humans in Egypt. [News Source]

Clues to pandemic bird flu found. International scientists believe they have identified some of the key steps needed for bird flu to develop into the deadly pandemic strain of the disease. [News Source]

N. California Wildlife Tested For Bird Flu (CBS 13 Sacramento) The bird flu has now hit 55 ountries, but so far there's been no cases in North America, and health experts want to keep it that way. Today, Fish and Game officers are testing wild birds to prevent this deadly flu from heading our way. [News Source]

Experts identify mutations in bird flu virus. Scientists have discovered two spots on the H5N1 bird flu virus which would need to mutate for the virus to infect people more easily. [News Source]

Two mutations found that might cause bird flu in human beings (EARTHtimes.org) The deadly avian influenza virus H5N1 is known to spread from bird to bird and in some cases from bird to human. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered two mutations in the flu virus that might be one of the few ways in which it transfers from bird to human beings. [News Source]

Mutations that help bird flu virus turn virulent for humans found (New Kerala) Washington, Nov 16: Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have identified two genetic mutations that appear to be involved in turning a deadly bird flu virus into a contiguous human one. [News Source]