Latest Global spread of H5N1 Stories

By Stephanie Nebehay and Fitri Wulandari GENEVA/JAKARTA (Reuters) - The H5N1 bird flu virus mutated somewhat among Indonesians in the largest known human cluster, but did not evolve into a more transmissible form, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. A spokeswoman for the U.N. agency, Maria Cheng, said the result had come from its investigation into a cluster of cases in northern Sumatra, where seven members of a single family were killed in May. "There was a mutation...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The H5N1 virus mutated somewhat among Indonesians in the largest known human cluster, but did not evolve into a more transmissible form, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. Maria Cheng, spokeswoman for the United Nations agency, said the result had come from its investigation into a recent cluster of cases in northern Sumatra, where seven members of a single family were killed in May. "There was a mutation found, it was in a report recently given to...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The H5N1 birdflu virus mutated somewhat among Indonesians in the largest known human cluster, but did not evolve into a more transmissible form, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. A spokeswoman for the U.N. agency, Maria Cheng, said the result had come from its investigation into a recent cluster of cases in northern Sumatra, where seven members of a single family were killed in May. "There was a mutation found, it was in a report recently given to...

By Fitri Wulandari JAKARTA (Reuters) - Many people who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus in Indonesia were ignorant and never warned about the disease and children are the ones most vulnerable, medical experts said on Wednesday. "Children may be off to play with sick chickens ... an activity that adults do less of," Thomas Grein, a leading epidemiologist at the World Health Organization, told Reuters on the sidelines of an experts meeting on bird flu. "Other high risk exercises are...

By Fitri WulandariJAKARTA -- Many people who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus in Indonesia were ignorant and never warned about the disease and children are the ones most vulnerable, medical experts said on Wednesday."Children may be off to play with sick chickens ... an activity that adults do less of," Thomas Grein, a leading epidemiologist at the World Health Organization, told Reuters on the sidelines of an experts meeting on bird flu."Other high risk exercises are...

By David Ljunggren and Marcy Nicholson OTTAWA/WINNIPEG (Reuters) - A backyard flock of geese, ducks and chickens in Eastern Canada was not infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain, officials said on Tuesday, dismissing fears that the strain might have arrived in North America for the first time. The fears had been aroused after a gosling in the small flock in Prince Edward Island died, and a lab in Eastern Canada examined it and found evidence of H5 avian flu. But the...

By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - A gosling from a Canadian backyard flock did not die of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu found in Asia, Europe and Africa, a Canadian source said on Tuesday. "The news is good. The dead bird was not carrying the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1," the source told Reuters. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give more details on the results of tests on the dead bird. Officials said last Friday that the gosling...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A case of bird flu in the eastern Canadian province of Prince Edward Island was not the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, a Canadian source said on Tuesday. "The news is good. The dead bird was not carrying the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1," the source told Reuters, declining to say exactly what the dead bird had been suffering from.

By Diyan Jari JAKARTA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization has confirmed an Indonesian teenager who died last week was infected with bird flu, a health ministry official said on Tuesday, taking the country's confirmed bird flu deaths to 39. The head of Indonesia's bird flu information center, Runizar Ruesin, said the 14-year-old boy was from south of Jakarta, but did not give details. Samples of the boy's lung fluid were sent to a WHO laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation after...

By Marcy Nicholson WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada is investigating a second backyard poultry flock for bird flu, although all birds remain healthy, authorities said on Sunday. "A quarantine has been instituted at that premise and it's because there's been contact either with live birds or through foot traffic and potential contamination with the original infected farm," said Canadian Food Inspection Agency veterinarian Jim Clark. The CFIA announced on Friday it had detected a...