Suspected bird flu victim dies (Thailandnews.net) PHICHIT : A worker on a free-range duck farm died from bird flu-like symptoms in Pho Prathap Chang district yesterday, and health authorities put his 12-year-old son under close observation for signs ... [News Source]

Genetic Flu Test Approved in U.S. to Detect Virus in Four Hours (Bloomberg) Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A new genetic test made by Applied Biosystems Inc. was approved by U.S. regulators to detect different strains of the flu virus, including avian flu. [News Source]

Genetic Flu Test Approved in U.S. to Detect Virus in Four Hours (Bloomberg) Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A new genetic test made by Applied Biosystems Inc. was approved by U.S. regulators to detect different strains of the flu virus, including avian flu. [News Source]

A DNA-based vaccine shows promise against avian flu (News-Medical-Net) Though it has fallen from the headlines, a global pandemic caused by bird flu still has the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on high alert. Yet, to date, the only vaccines that have proven even semi-effective are produced in chicken eggs, take five to six months to prepare and act against a single variant of the H5N1 virus, which mutates incredibly quickly. [News Source]

Suspected bird flu victim dies (Bangkok Post – Thailand’s English news) PHICHIT : A worker on a free-range duck farm died from bird flu-like symptoms in Pho Prathap Chang district yesterday, and health authorities put his 12-year-old son under close observation for signs of infection with the virus. [News Source]

TOGO: 17,000 poultry killed in latest flu outbreak (AlertNet) Source: IRIN Some 17,000 birds died or have been culled since the outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus on 9 September on three poultry farms in Agbata, located 10km east of Lome, according to the country's livestock director, Komla Batawui. [News Source]

Dateline Pittsburgh: 09/27/08 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research were awarded $3.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to conduct animal studies of vaccines designed to protect against the most common and deadliest strain of avian flu, H5N1. [News Source]

Poultry is culled in Togo after bird flu outbreak (Gulf Times) Authorities have culled some 5,000 birds over the past two days in the capital of the west African state of Togo following the discovery of bird flu there early this month, an official said yesterday. [News Source]

Poultry cull in Togo capital after bird flu outbreak (AFP via Yahoo! News) Authorities have culled some 5,000 birds over the past two days in the capital of the west African state of Togo following the discovery of bird flu there early this month, an official said Saturday. [News Source]

Novartis MF59®-adjuvanted Vaccine Rapidly Induces Protective Antibody Levels Against Diverse Strains Of Avian Flu (Medical News Today) A new study shows that individuals immunized six years earlier with an MF59 adjuvanted H5N3 (clade 0) vaccine mounted a protective immune response seven days after a single immunization with an H5N1 (clade 1) vaccine containing the Novartis proprietary adjuvant MF59. The immune response was broadly cross reactive and covered all H5N1 clades known to date. [News Source]

Bird flu recurs in Vietnam (EARTHtimes.org) Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities have detected the H5N1 avian flu virus in a flock of ducks on a farm in the southern province of Ca Mau, a government official said Friday. Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of Vietnam's Animal Health Department, said insp... [News Source]

Watch out for the other bird flu (New Scientist) H5N1 is not the only threat – another form of bird flu that infects humans is common in poultry and, with a few mutations, could become a killer too (full text available to subscribers) [News Source]