Vietnam: Bird Flu Measures Stepped Up (New York Times) Vietnam, which wiped out avian flu in its poultry in 2005, is facing a resurgence and has ordered millions of vaccine doses from China to quell it, health officials said. Since last month, the disease has been found in more than 25 villages in three provinces. Officials blamed farmers who evaded twice-yearly vaccination drives and the smuggling of chickens and ducks from China as demand surges ... [News Source]

Avian Flu Unlikely to Spread Through Water Systems (Newswise) Cornell researchers studied a virus related to the avian influenza virus to see whether a hypothetical mutated form of H5N1 could infect people through drinking and wastewater systems. [News Source]

Bird Flu Leaves Three People Dead in Egypt (Environment News Service) CAIRO, Egypt , January 3, 2007 (ENS) - Three members of an extended family have died after being infected with H5N1 avian influenza, bringing the human toll in that nation to 18 cases and 10 deaths since February, when the disease was first reported in Egypt. [News Source]

Avian flu virus unlikely to spread through water systems (PhysOrg) A close relative of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) can be eliminated by waste and drinking water treatments, including chlorination, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and bacterial digesters. The virus is harmless to humans but provides a study case of the pathways by which the influenza could spread to human populations. [News Source]

NIAID DNA vaccine for H5N1 avian influenza enters human trial (EurekAlert!) The first human trial of a DNA vaccine designed to prevent H5N1 avian influenza infection began on December 21, 2006, when the vaccine was administered to the first volunteer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD. Scientists from the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the NIH Institutes, ... [News Source]

Indoor air pollution – Silent killer of women. Women and young girls coughing and choking as they cook food over traditional stoves that burn wood, leaves or dung is a common a sight in poor homes across Asia, Africa and Latin America. But no one notices the deleterious effects. [News Source]

Planning for a flu pandemic. A public education program will be kicked off later this month in Fairbanks, Alaska to help residents be ready in the event of an influenza pandemic. [News Source]

‘Superbug’ scare surfaces again; your best defence is washing your hands. Alarm bells sounded this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal about a "superbug at our doorstep" will have a familiar ring for British Columbians. [News Source]

Human Testing Starts On Bird Flu Vaccine (WFTV 9 Orlando) A new DNA-based vaccine could stop the spread of bird flu if it starts moving through people. [News Source]

Researcher Develops Avian Flu Vaccine For Poultry (Science Daily) An Auburn University veterinary professor in collaboration with researchers at Vaxin Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., has developed the first "in ovo," or egg-injected, vaccine to protect chickens against avian influenza, a virus threatening human health and global poultry populations. [News Source]

Vietnam on alert as bird flu spreads (AFP via Yahoo! News) Vietnamese and United Nations animal health experts have warned of a heightened bird flu threat after the virus was detected in poultry flocks in the country's south and centre in recent weeks. [News Source]

Bird flu hits 25 communes in Mekong Delta provinces (Nhan Dan) Bird flu has to date stricken 25 communes in 11 districts in the southern provinces of Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang, resulting in the bury of nearly 24,000 poultry. [News Source]