Bird flu kills woman in southern Vietnam (AsiaOne) HANOI - A Vietnamese woman who slaughtered and processed sick poultry has died from bird flu, the first fatality from the avian influenza virus this year in Vietnam, the Health Ministry said. [News Source]

Novel compound found effective against avian influenza virus (Science Daily) A novel compound is highly effective against the pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, including some drug-resistant strains, according to new research. [News Source]

Teasing vaccines from tobacco. The U.S. Department of Defense, caught off guard by the swift spread of the H1N1 flu virus last year and delays in producing a vaccine, is backing an unusual plan to use tobacco plants to make the vaccine. [News Source]

What H1N1 taught us. Perhaps the most important lesson we can still learn from this pandemic is where it came from and how we can prevent another one. [News Source]

First Vietnam bird flu death in 2010 (AsiaOne) HANOI - A 38-year-old woman has become the first victim of bird flu in Vietnam in 2010, bringing the country's toll from avian influenza to 58, the health ministry said Friday. [News Source]

Bird flu kills Vietnam woman (Straits Times) HANOI - A VIETNAMESE woman who slaughtered and processed sick poultry has died from bird flu, the first fatality from the avian influenza virus this year in Vietnam, the Health Ministry said. The 38-year-old woman died on Tuesday in a hospital in the southern Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap after fighting the H5N1 virus for 10 days, the ministry said in a statement seen on Saturday. [News Source]

Bird flu kills woman in southern Vietnam (AlertNet) Source: Reuters HANOI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A Vietnamese woman who slaughtered and processed sick poultry has died from bird flu, the first fatality from the avian influenza virus this year in Vietnam, the Health ... [News Source]

Japan drug can fight avian flu (The Japan Times) A new drug developed in Japan and now under government screening has been proven effective in tests on mice against the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza, as well as another H5N1 strain resistant to the widely used treatment Tamiflu, according to a U.S. science publication released Friday. A team led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, professor of the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science ... [News Source]

Contagious Hybrid Bird Flu-Human Flu Created in Lab (Environment News Service) , February 26, 2010 (ENS) - Genetic interactions between avian influenza and human seasonal influenza viruses have the potential to create hybrid strains that combine the virulence of bird flu with the ability to spread like a pandemic, new research has found. [News Source]

Novel compound found effective against avian influenza virus (University of Wisconsin – Madison) A novel compound is highly effective against the pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, including some drug-resistant strains, according to new research led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist. [News Source]

Novel Compound Effective Against H5N1 Avian Influenza (redOrbit) A new study shows that a novel antiviral compound is effective against the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, including oseltamivir (Tamiflu)-resistant strains, according to scientists from Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [News Source]

Everyone in US should get flu vaccine. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices made the long-awaited vote to recommend virtually universal flu vaccination -- something public health experts have long recommended. [News Source]