Recent Comments on Sooke News Mirror (Victoria News) Let’s see, we’ve had the 1918 flu, the Asian flu, the Spanish flu, the avian flu, and now the swine flu. Flu outbreaks over the last 100 years have killed millions of people, it’s nothing new or unexpected. And as each one comes along, so does another vaccine. [News Source]

Seasonal flu vaccine ups risk of pandemic flu. Earlier this year, Dutch scientists showed that vaccinating mice against seasonal strains of flu rendered the animals unnecessarily vulnerable to dying if they later encountered a pandemic flu strain. [News Source]

Swine flu: Eight myths that could endanger your life. The second wave of the swine flu pandemic is now under way in the northern hemisphere. Case numbers are climbing fast and in some places vaccination has begun. So what's the big deal? [News Source]

Eating animals is making us sick. If the way we raise animals for food isn't the most important problem in the world right now, it's arguably the No. 1 cause of global warming. It's the No. 1 cause of animal suffering, a decisive factor in the creation of zoonotic diseases like bird and swine flu, and the list goes on. It is the problem with the most deafening silence surrounding it. [News Source]

Government slow on H1N1 threat, panel says. The federal government's preparedness for the H1N1 – or swine flu– pandemic, which has claimed more than 1,000 lives nationwide, was inadequate and incomplete, a congressional subcommittee said Tuesday. [News Source]

Eating animals is making us sick. If the way we raise animals for food isn't the most important problem in the world right now, it's arguably the No. 1 cause of global warming: The United Nations reports the livestock business generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined. [News Source]

India declared free of bird flu (New Kerala) New Delhi : India has declared itself free from the notifiable Avian Influenza (H5N1) and notified this to the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health). The notification to this effect has been issued on Oct 22. [News Source]

An epidemic of fear. Paul Offit, a pediatrician in Philadelphia, is the coinventor of a rotavirus vaccine that could save tens of thousands of lives every year. He is also the main target of a grassroots movement that opposes the systematic vaccination of children and the laws that require it. [News Source]

A dubious alternative. Mounting concern about swine flu--and shortages of vaccines--are refocusing attention on homeopathic remedies, which are increasingly being used in the U.S. and abroad as an alternative to prevent or treat various forms of flu: swine, bird and seasonal. [News Source]

India free from avian influenza (Express India) In another good news for the Rs 40,000 crore poultry industry in India, the World Organization for Animal Health last week granted 'bird flu free' status to India. [News Source]

India declares itself free from bird flu (The Hindu) NEW DELHI: India has declared itself free from the notifiable Avian Influenza (H5N1). The notification was issued to the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) on October 22. A country can declare itself free from birdflu, if there ... [News Source]

India declared free of bird flu (New Kerala) New Delhi, Oct 26: India Monday declared itself free from the avian influenza (H5N1), the agriculture ministry said here. [News Source]