Two Egyptian boys contract avian flu (Gulf Times) Two Egyptian boys aged three and four have contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza, bringing to 74 the number of infections in the country, the health ministry said yesterday. [News Source]

The slippery slope from fear to panic. Could a reason for the panicky reaction to the swine flu outbreak be that it diverted our attention from the devastating effects of the financial crisis, as well as the chronic health issues that threaten millions of lives? Or is it simply human nature to overreact? [News Source]

GlaxoSmithKline offers 50 million doses of pandemic vaccine to WHO. Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline said it has offered to donate 50 million doses of a pandemic vaccine to the World Health Organization in the event of a global flu outbreak, according to a company spokesman. [News Source]

Factory farming might prove a risk too far. Now that we keep most of our livestock in crowded cages for their entire lives, generally living above a cesspool of their own excrement and exchanging disease pathogens at blinding speed, the speed of evolution of the pathogens has accelerated dramatically. [News Source]

Factory farms breed diseases that could cause pandemic. Industrial-scale livestock raising, a relatively recent development, is making lethal pandemics 10 times more likely than they used to be. [News Source]

New-flu death toll equals avian-flu deaths: WHO (Hindustan Times) The World Health Organisation has said total deaths around the world from the new H1N1 influenza has equalled the record-high annual death toll from avian flu registered in 2006. [News Source]

Swine flu death toll equals avian flu deaths in 2006: WHO (Express India) Total death toll around the world from the new H1N1 influenza has equalled the record-high annual death toll from avian flu registered in 2006. [News Source]