U.S. issues guidelines for flu crises. The most serious flu pandemic should immediately prompt strict isolation measures, including sending students home from school for up to three months and quarantining households with sick members. [News Source]

Small changes stop flu virus spread, study finds. Two little changes in the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic stopped it from spreading from one animal to another, a finding that may help determine what will cause the next pandemic, scientists reported on Thursday. [News Source]

New index keeps track of flu threat. Federal health officials Thursday introduced a new system to gauge the severity of a deadly worldwide flu epidemic and to help communities deal with the impending threat. [News Source]

HK urged to keep vigilance against avian influenza threat (People’s Daily) Hong Kong Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food York Chow Thursday warned against outbreak of avian influenza and called for concerted effort to guard against avian flu in Hong Kong.. [News Source]

NIGERIA: Surveillance efforts to increase after reported bird flu death (AlertNet) Source: IRIN Health authorities in Nigeria were redoubling surveillance efforts on Thursday to track the deadly H5N1 virus in birds and humans after the first human death from avian flu was reported in the country. [News Source]

Indonesia comes up with bird flu vaccine (News-Medical-Net) The head of Indonesia's national committee on avian influenza has announced that scientists there have developed a bird flu vaccine for humans. [News Source]

The great flu pandemic. Health officials in the USA and around the world have warned for years that a flu pandemic is coming, and the world needs to prepare. But public interest in the threat has waned. [News Source]

Federal anti-flu document raises questions. The U.S. government will release a 108-page document telling Americans how to minimize disaster if a new flu pandemic strikes. Some say it's an excessive response to failures in past emergency planning. [News Source]

Will masks stop bird flu? Students experiment. Can wearing a face mask and regularly cleaning hands stop the spread of deadly bird flu? [News Source]

Coming home to roost? Bird flu has flared up again in Asia, reminding the world it is still at risk from a human flu pandemic. [News Source]

H5N1 confirmed at Okayama farm. Dozens of chickens that started dying two weeks ago at a poultry farm in Okayama Prefecture were killed by the H5N1 strain of bird flu, agriculture officials confirmed Wednesday, fueling concerns about the future of the poultry industry. [News Source]

Change is what matters after Davos. As world leaders from the business community, governments and civil society arrived in Davos for the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting this year, they did not see as much snow in this Swiss ski resort as they had in previous years. [News Source]