Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) has demanded that in addition to the existing reference laboratory at NARC Islamabad, other two laboratories such as National Veterinary Laboratory (NVL) Islamabad and Microbiological Laboratory at University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore should be considered and included in the project document for Diagnosis of Avian Influenza.

The provincial government has transferred an official of the livestock department from Swabi to Mardan as punishment for allegedly disclosing that H5N1 strain of bird flu influenza had been detected in a poultry farm of the district, sources told Dawn. They claimed that on the advice of a local MPA, who favoured the poultry farm owners, Basic Livestock Officer Mohammad Ibrahim was made a scapegoat for revealing the information and "transferred within a day as the process usually takes a month'.

Avian Influenza Control Project has said six districts bordering India are at risk of bird flu. According to Dr Manas Kumar Banerjee, coordinator of Avian Influenza Control Project of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under Ministry of Health and Population, Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Sunsari and Morang districts are at risk of the flu. "There is embargo on the import of poultry items but despite the ban, items like white eggs which are found only in India are also found in the local market of the mentioned districts," said Dr Banerjee.

East and Southeast Asia are probably the breeding grounds for influenza viruses. A study has shown that the virus spreads through densely-packed cities in the region before hitching a ride on human

In view of the emergence of the avian influenza epidemic in South East Asia region, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) will host a meeting on strengthening influenza diagnosis and networking in South East Asia in Pune from May 13. Dr A C Mishra, Director, National Institute of Virology said that the meeting was being conducted by the World Health Organisation-SEARO to improve diagnostic capacity of laboratories in the South East Asia region. National Influenza Centers are the cornerstone of global influenza surveillance.

Gov't eyes new method to speed up production of vaccine against new flu Wednesday 16th April, 10:10 AM JST TOKYO

Indonesia Says To Launch Bird Flu Pandemic Plan INDONESIA: April 15, 2008 JAKARTA - Indonesia, which has the highest death toll from bird flu of any country, will launch a plan later this week to deal with a possible influenza pandemic, officials said on Monday. Heru Setijanto, head of surveillance and monitoring at the national commission for bird flu control, said the plan would be followed up a week later by a three-day pandemic simulation involving several villages on the resort island of Bali.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus that emerged in southern China in the mid-1990s has in recent years evolved into the first HPAI panzootic.

Top scientists commissioned by Hong Kong's health authorities to probe a recent influenza outbreak here have not found an especially virulent form of virus from children who died after coming down wit

The Hong Kong government on Thursday closed all elementary schools and preschools in the territory a week early for Easter holidays after three children died amid an influenza outbreak, but insisted t

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