FLU NEWS SCAN: Candidate avian flu vaccine strains, new 2009 H1N1 name, swine-origin H3N2 flu in Maine, convulsions … WHO proposes new candidate avian flu vaccine strains, renames 2009 H1N1 Based on a recent analysis of circulating zoonotic avian influenza viruses from Feb 16 through Sep 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) today proposed developing two new candidate vaccine viruses in addition to ones already available, one from the H5N1 subtype and the other from H9N2. The newly proposed H5N1 candidate is ... [News Source]

Indonesia on Alert over Return of Bird Flu Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih has been closely following the apparent return of H5N1 in some regions in Indonesia lately [...] [News Source]

Study finds link between swine flu and stillbirth. Babies born to mothers who contracted the swine flu virus faced a much greater risk of being stillborn, according to a new study. Baby deaths among women infected with the 2009 strain of the virus were five times higher than normal. [News Source]

Baby deaths 5 times higher among pregnant women with swine flu. Scientists are warning that pregnant women who catch swine flu have a far greater risk of having a stillbirth. According to a study, women infected with the 2009 strain of the virus were five times more likely to lose their baby during pregnancy or just after giving birth due to defects. [News Source]

Virus pandemics: A great plague draws closer. In the coming years, we'll see more and more pandemic threats, as we go deeper into the rainforests and other remote ecosystems and release the infectious agents previously unconnected to the international transportation network. Yet we also now live in an era with the tools to build a global immune system. [News Source]

NEW bird flu strain less deadly than FIRST THOUGHT Migratory birds fly near a bird sanctuary in Parañaque City on Tuesday amid a bird flu scare that has prompted the government to intensify its monitoring on the possible spread of the disease. PHOTO BY MIGUEL DE GUZMAN HANOI: A mutant strain of the deadly bird flu H5N1 virus detected in Vietnam does not appear to pose an increased risk to human health, the United Nations said on Monday. [News Source]

Bird flu detected on Indonesia`s Lombok island, no human cases Indonesian health officials on Tuesday confirmed that bird flu has been detected in poultry on the island of Lombok, although no human cases of the disease have been reported. Indonesian Health Minister Endang said that 30 provinces - among them, Lombok - are still bird flu endemic in poultry. He has urged local farmers to improve hygiene after the virus was detected on the island, which ... [News Source]

Lethal European fish virus found in Canada. A virus as lethal to salmon as bird flu is to poultry has been confirmed for the first time in wild fish in a remote area of Canada's west coast, two scientists said Monday. [News Source]

Minister: No Human Infected with Bird Flu in Lombok Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih has confirmed that bird flu has infected poultry in Lombok [...] [News Source]

NEWS SCAN: Indonesian H5N1 update, latest in zombie preparedness, polio in Pakistan, dengue control H5N1 suspected in death of Indonesian mother The mother of two Indonesian children from Bali who died recently from H5N1 avian flu has died at her home after having a fever and being treated in the hospital, according to a report today from Bird Flu Information Corner, a Web message board operated by Kobe University in Japan and Airlangga University in Indonesia. [News Source]

Researcher seeks lessons from Egyptian bird flu By Justin Bannisterjbannist@nmsu.eduTens of thousands of people die from various forms the flu each year, but gaining a better understanding of how the disease spreads especially in some of its most [News Source]

Government frees sale of Tamiflu, only drug effective against swine flu and bird flu India's six lakh chemist shops can now stock and sell oseltamivir phosphate or Tamilfu — the only known drug effective against both the deadly influenza strains H1N1 swine flu and H5N1 bird flu. [News Source]