Emperor’s ducks sick with bird flu (The Japan Times) The farm ministry said Friday that ducks at the Imperial Household Agency's duck farm in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, have become infected with an attenuated avian influenza virus. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said the birds do not have to be culled and asked the agency to monitor them. All birds on the farm would have been culled if they had been infected with a highly ... [News Source]

Swine flu in swine: flu could worsen; industry at risk. The United States pork industry has already been battered by the false perception that pork can transmit swine flu. And now farmers are bracing for the first reported transmission of the virus to a U.S. pig, which at this point seems inevitable, experts say. [News Source]