40,000 Marin Schoolkids Get Bird Flu Warning (CBS 5 Bay Area) Health officials recently sent 40,000 fliers home with Marin County schoolchildren warning parents to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic in California. [News Source]

Vietnam Confirms Avian Flu Outbreak Is Lethal Strain (Medical News Today) Officials in southern Vietnam have confirmed that the recent bird flu outbreak is the lethal H5N1 strain.6,000 domestic birds, mostly ducks and chickens in the Ca Mau and Bac Lieu provinces of the Mekong Delta have died from the infection over the last two weeks. The dead birds were all hatched illegally, according to health officials, and had not been vaccinated. [click link for full article] [News Source]

Bird flu lands in Mekong Delta after year’s absence (Viet Nam News) HA NOI — Viet Nam reported two fresh bird flu outbreaks in two provinces of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta after successfully controlling the epidemic for a year, the National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Control said yesterday. [News Source]

Fresh Bird Flu Concerns in Nigeria (Voice of America) Experts say a fresh outbreak of avian influenza in Nigeria is more widespread than thought. As Gilbert da Costa reports from Abuja, this has provoked fears of long-term risks. [News Source]

Vietnam confirms bird flu outbreak. Thousands of poultry died of bird flu in the past two weeks in southern Vietnam, the government said Wednesday, in the country's first reported outbreak in a year. [News Source]

Bird flu hits Vietnam poultry. Vietnam has detected the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens and ducklings in two Mekong Delta provinces, the country's first infections since August. [News Source]

Now you see it… Take a long look next year at the fields and empty spaces around most of Britain's cities, because in 20 years or less they may be full of supermarkets, "sustainable" villages, new runways, windfarms, golf courses and leisure parks. [News Source]

Bush signs 3 health care-related bills. President Bush on Tuesday signed bills to raise federal funding for autism, shift AIDS money to rural areas and the South and create a government unit to oversee response to a bird flu pandemic or bioterrorism attack. [News Source]

Bird flu hits Vietnam poultry (News 24 South Africa) Vietnam has detected the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens and ducklings in two Mekong Delta provinces. [News Source]

Thailand will launch new anti-bird flu campaign (MCOT) BANGKOK, Dec 20 (TNA) - Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is set to upgrade its tough anti-bird flu measures next year to prevent any new bird flu outbreak, a senior official said on Wednesday. [News Source]