Scientists recreate 1918 flu and see parallels to bird flu. Scientists infected monkeys with a virus that caused the 1918-19 influenza pandemic and said that it caused an illness like that suffered by patients with the bird flu now spreading in Asia. [News Source]

1918 flu virus limited the immune system. A Frankenstein version of the "Spanish flu" virus, assembled from parts in the laboratory, has shed new light on how the microbe killed tens of millions of people worldwide. [News Source]

Lethal secrets of 1918 flu virus, Scientists who recreated "Spanish flu" - the 1918 virus which killed up to 50m people - have witnessed its remarkable killing power first hand. [News Source]

4 bird flu suspects found in northern Thailand (People’s Daily) Four family members in Thai northern province of Phitsanulok are suspected to be infected with avian flu after they ate a dead duck from their farm, Thai local media reported on Thursday. [News Source]

New bird flu suspect hospitalised in Phichit (MCOT) PHICHIT, Jan 18 (TNA) - A boy in this northern province suspected of having contracted avian influenza had direct contact with a sick chicken before falling ill. [News Source]

Egypt reports 19th human case of deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu (CP via Yahoo! Canada News) CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Bird flu has infected another Egyptian, bringing to 19 the number of cases afflicted with the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, according to reports Thursday in Egyptian media. [News Source]

Spanish Flu Gives Clues To Deadliness Of Avian Flu (Medical News Today) By infecting monkeys with Spanish flu, an international team of scientists think they may have discovered clues as to why the H5N1 Avian flu virus is so deadly to humans. The scientists report their findings in the current issue of Nature.The 1918 flu, or "Spanish flu" as it became known, killed over 50 million people worldwide. [click link for full article] [News Source]

Bird Flu (News From Bangladesh) Early this week Thailand suffered its first outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in six months. This year Vietnam also faced a rash of the same outbreaks and Indonesia, the world capital of Bird Flu, had four human deaths due to the same flu. [News Source]

Bird flu outbreak in Japan highly virulent (ABS-CBNNEWS.com) TOKYO - Japan confirmed Thursday that the bird flu virus in its latest outbreak was an especially virulent strain, killing all animals in laboratory testing. [News Source]

Agriculture panel backs bird flu vaccine use in severe outbreak (MCOT) BANGKOK, Jan 18 (TNA) - A panel studying guidelines to tackle the bird flu problem has in principle approved the use of bird flu vaccine in some areas if they are hard-hit by the outbreak. [News Source]