UN seeks $1.5 billion for swine flu. United Nations health officials claim in a new report they need nearly $1.5 billion to prevent the swine flu epidemic from spiraling into a global catastrophe. [News Source]

Benefit and doubt in vaccine additive. Additives could stretch the supply of swine flu vaccine. But U.S. officials have doubts about the substances’ safety--and are worried about using an unproven vaccine to help protect people in other countries. [News Source]

Pregnant women bare arms for H1N1 vaccine. As of Sept. 3, 6% of confirmed deaths from the H1N1 flu have been pregnant women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. And among people infected with H1N1, pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized than the general population. [News Source]

St. Jude Hospital study links Parkinson’s, bird flu. In a study offering tantalizing clues into the origins of a devastating and mysterious ailment, researchers concluded that people who survive a strain of bird flu have a significantly greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. [News Source]

Thicker mask needed to block spread of flu illnesses. The U.S. government said it's reviewing recommendations on the use of surgical masks to protect health-care workers from flu after a study showed they don't help. Thicker, more expensive respirators should be used, the study found. [News Source]

Thicker mask needed to block spread of flu illnesses. The U.S. government said it's reviewing recommendations on the use of surgical masks to protect health-care workers from flu after a study showed they don't help. Thicker, more expensive respirators should be used, the study found. [News Source]

Expert says swine flu ‘hid’ for decade. The new pandemic H1N1 influenza was circulating undetected in pigs for at least a decade before it jumped to people, and much better surveillance is needed among both pigs and people, an expert said on Tuesday. [News Source]

First new flu drug in a decade shows it saves lives in test. Researchers delivered a double dose of good news in the fight against flu: successful tests of what could become the first new flu medicine in a decade, and the strongest evidence yet that such drugs save lives, not just shorten illness. [News Source]

Open-access flu research web site is relaunched amid controversy. A database designed to help researchers worldwide develop vaccines for avian and seasonal influenza viruses, not to mention the prolific H1N1 "swine flu," is now at the center of an ugly rift between its co-creators. [News Source]

How the flu outbreak spread. From its first outbreak in Mexico to the impact in Asia and beyond, H1N1 has cut a global path. But around the world, the illness still looks quite similar - in terms of severity - to what the U.S. experienced in the spring. [News Source]

St. Jude scientists trying to solve H1N1 vaccine challenges. At St. Jude some 50 scientists are at work trying to solve two of the main challenges posed by a virus that touched off a global pandemic whose victims so far include about 600 dead in the United States. [News Source]

How the pandemic swine flu virus came to be. The virus behind the current influenza pandemic may be known as swine flu, but it didn't come only from pigs. Wild birds and humans also played a role in its creation. Scientists are trying to unravel how it thrives. [News Source]