German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk. Germany's federal agency for infectious diseases said on Tuesday there were signs the H1N1 swine flu virus had started to mutate and warned it could spread in the coming months in a more aggressive form. Germany has 275 confirmed cases of swine flu, the third highest rate in Europe. [News Source]

Raising animals and rising threats. Swine flu should be a wake-up call that spurs us to redesign factory farms that concentrate large animal populations in close confinement. Animal wastes and slaughterhouses create routine pathways for environmental contamination. [News Source]