Experts suspect bird flu outbreak mainly due to trade in live birds (CNews) UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Experts suspect the current spread of bird flu in Asia, Africa and Europe is mainly a result of trade in infected live birds, rather than transmission through wild birds, the UN official co-ordinating the global fight against avian influenza said Friday. [News Source]

UN warns possibility of transmission of avian influenza to humans (People’s Daily) David Nabarro, the senior UN coordinator for bird flu, warned on Friday that there is still the possibility the avian influenza can be transmitted to humans. [News Source]

Latest bird flu blamed on bird trading (AP via Yahoo! News) Experts suspect the current spread of bird flu in Asia, Africa and Europe is mainly a result of trade in infected live birds rather than transmission through wild birds, the U.N. official coordinating the global fight against avian influenza said Friday. [News Source]

New reports of bird flu in different regions spark concerns of spread (Kyodo via Yahoo! Asia News) _ A U.N. official expressed concerns Friday that the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza could spread further, given the new outbreaks of bird flu in at least 10 countries over the past two months, including cases in Japan. [News Source]

Human Toll from Avian Influenza Continues in Nigeria, Egypt (U.S. Department of State) The first human death from avian influenza in Africa has been reported in Nigeria, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and the highly pathogenic Asian strain of bird flu has been found for the first time in the United Kingdom. The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population also announces a new human death from H5N1 virus infection. The case was confirmed by the Egyptian Central ... [News Source]

Bird flu may be linked to meat from Hungary, says Government. Britain's first outbreak of bird flu may have been caused by semi-processed turkey meat imported directly from Hungary, where the disease is prevalent, the Government said last night. [News Source]

Bird flu outbreak spreads on Suffolk farm. The government was forced to concede last night that the bird flu outbreak was more widespread than previously thought after more turkeys at the Bernard Matthews plant in Suffolk were found to be contaminated with H5N1. [News Source]

Bird flu officials investigating Matthews turkey plant in Hungary. The government and the company conceded that a consignment of partially processed turkey meat from the Bernard Matthews' plant in Hungary had been sent to Suffolk and was now at the centre of the investigations. [News Source]

Masked and primed to assist in flu study. Researchers are trying to determine whether wearing surgical masks and sanitizing hands can prevent the spread of flu or other respiratory illnesses. [News Source]

Bird flu: Is Bernard Matthews to blame? Factory farm giant Bernard Matthews was being investigated over claims that lethal bird flu may have been brought into Britain on a lorryload of turkeys imported from Hungary. [News Source]

Imports ‘not from bird flu zone’. The company at the centre of the UK bird flu outbreak has defended its import methods as officials investigate whether the disease came from Hungary. [News Source]

Hungarian link probed in UK bird flu outbreak. Scientists investigating last week's outbreak of bird flu on a British turkey farm said on Thursday there might be a link with an outbreak in Hungary in January. [News Source]