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<p>TSN 17.11, +0.13, +0.8%) dropped 8% to close at $16.98 Tuesday following a report that 15,000 chickens in a northwest Arkansas plant had tested positive for a mild strain of avian influenza.</p> <p>U.S. Dept. of Agriculture spokeswoman Angie Harless said the National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the presence Sunday of avian influenza antibodies in Tyson chickens, indicating that they had a mild strain of avian flu.</p>

JAKARTA (AFP) — The future of a major US Navy research laboratory in Indonesia is in doubt amid allegations, dismissed as "crazy" by US diplomats, of espionage and secret experiments. Negotiations between Washington and Jakarta over the renewal of the operating contract of US Naval Medical Research Unit-2, or Namru-2, have stalled over a range of issues including diplomatic immunity for its US staff. Established in Indonesia in 1970 and charged with researching infectious diseases of military importance, the facility employs 19 Americans and more than 100 Indonesians and is based in Indonesian health ministry grounds. Its operations have attracted...

JAKARTA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Members of the Indonesian House of Representatives have moved to establish a special task force to investigate U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 (Namru-2), local press said Tuesday. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the second largest faction in the House, proposed the fact-finding team because of allegations the U.S. laboratory is engaging in espionage and the lack of apparent benefits to Indonesia from their research. "We propose the House form a task force to investigate the lab to reassure the public that it isn't spying on us and that it really benefits...

Bird flu: Indonesia's trial run By Lucy Williamson April 29, 2008 BBC News, Bali In the backstreets of a Bali village, all hell has broken loose. The Balinese rural calm has been invaded by men with megaphones and masks, there are sirens wailing down the main street, and at the centre of it all, Putu Arini sits quietly on the porch of her house, waiting for the police. Parts of Bali have looked like the set of a germ-warfare film A few hours ago, her husband was taken to the local health clinic, with bird flu-like symptoms, and now investigators...

Soldier may have first human case of bird flu here April 22, 2008 A soldier who helped slaughter poultry infected with avian influenza might have the first human case of the disease in Korea, the Health Ministry said yesterday. “The soldier slaughtered poultry on Friday and Saturday, and his symptoms meet the criteria of a suspected avian influenza patient under the World Health Organization manual,” the ministry said in a release. “His condition, however, is close to that of a bacterial pneumonia patient, so we are closely monitoring him.” The ministry quoted the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as...

Bird flu in one way or another is wiping out poultry in South Korea Published: Monday, 21-Apr-2008 Disease/Infection News Following the announcement by officials in South Korea of another bird flu outbreak, 5.3 million birds are expected to be culled to control the spread of the deadly virus. This latest outbreak in South Korea is the 17th case of bird flu in three weeks and is the country's fastest and biggest ever outbreak of avian influenza. Officials at the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries say that the case which tested positive for the H5N1 virus, appeared on a...

Chinese son likely gave bird flu to father: report By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Mon Apr 7, 6:34 PM ET A 24-year-old Chinese man who died of bird flu in December passed the virus directly to his father in a rare case of human-to-human transmission of the virus, doctors reported on Monday. Chinese officials had already said they believed the younger man infected his 52-year-old father, who survived, but genetic sequencing and other checks confirmed this was likely, the researchers said. "In this family cluster of confirmed cases of infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus...

16:36' 24/03/2008 (GMT+7) After four years of research, scientists at the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology have announced they will test type A/H5N1 vaccine on humans this April and the vaccine will be available on the market in 2009. Last stage of H5N1 vaccine There was good news for scientists at the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology: the Ministry of Health agreed to let them test H5N1 vaccine on humans. The over-four year process of researching H5N1 virus carried out by the scientists is at last in the final stage. In early March 2008, a group of scientists...

17:46' 04/04/2008 (GMT+7) Scientists inject the vaccine in monkeys on Reu Island, Quang Ninh province in 2004. Vaccine and Biomedical Product Company 1 on April 3 injected a second dose of H5N1 vaccine in ten volunteers. Vietnam to produce H5N1 vaccine in 2009This test aims to verify the safety of H5N1 vaccine in humans. After the injection, all volunteers were in normal condition. These people will be monitored for seven days more to ensure the safety of the vaccine. On March 6, these people took the first dose of type A/H5N1 vaccine and no abnormal symptoms were recorded before they...

Authorities testing for deadly strain as new bird flu outbreak hits South Korea AP - Saturday, April 5 SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea reported another bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm Saturday, days after confirming the return of the deadly H5N1 virus following a yearlong absence. ADVERTISEMENT Ducks at the farm tested positive for a general bird flu virus, but more tests are needed to determine if it is the specific strain that has caused worldwide concern, said Kim Ung-sang, an Agriculture Ministry official said. Results are expected by Monday. Several strains of bird flu typically circulate in...

(BEIJING) -- China's food and drug regulators on Wednesday authorized a domestic pharmaceutical firm to begin commercial production of a human bird flu vaccine, following more than two years of clinical trials. The firm, Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. will produce vaccines to defend humans against the H5N1 virus and its epidemic variety, making China the world's second country with the technology and industrial capacity to produce human bird flu vaccine. According to Yin Weidong, general manager of the firm, Sinovac has the ability to produce new vaccines even if the virus mutates in humans. China started clinical research and...

Ducks, people and rice paddies are the primary forces driving outbreaks of avian influenza in Thailand and Vietnam, and the number of chickens is less pivotal, scientists said on Wednesday. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization experts and others looked at three waves of H5N1 bird flu in Thailand and Vietnam in 2004 and 2005. The virus has killed 236 people in 12 countries since 2003. They used computer modeling to study how various factors were involved in the spread of the virus, including the numbers of ducks, geese and chickens, human population size, rice cultivation and local geography. Even though...

Associated Press Chinese officials have confirmed that bird flu was to blame for killing chickens in poultry markets in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Hong Kong's health bureau Sunday. China's Ministry of Agriculture notified the administration that the birds tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, marking the country's fifth outbreak among poultry this year, Hong Kong's Food and Health Bureau said in a statement. The Ministry of Agriculture also said on its Web site that last week's outbreak in Guangzhou killed 114 birds and resulted in the slaughter of 518 others. But it has been contained, the...

A Hong Kong primary school was closed Tuesday after a seven-year-old pupil died in hospital and 38 other students fell sick with flu. Law Ho-ming was admitted to hospital with fever and flu symptoms and discharged, only to return two days later on Saturday. He fell into a coma and died Tuesday morning. Thirty-eight fellow pupils at the Ho Yat Tung Primary School have fallen ill with flu and the school was Tuesday afternoon told by the government to close a week early for its Easter holiday because of the outbreak. Law was readmitted to hospital on Saturday just 48...

HANOI, VIETNAM: A man has died of bird flu in Vietnam's second human death from the virus in a week, health officials said Friday (15 Feb), blaming poultry consumption during the Lunar New Year holiday and recent cold spells for the spread of the illness. The 27-year-old man died Thursday (14 Feb) night in a Hanoi hospital. He became ill earlier this week after eating infected chicken at his home in Ninh Binh province, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Hanoi, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Ministry of Health's Preventive Medicine Department. Test results showed he was...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Indonesian boy from Central Java has died from bird flu, taking the country's death toll from the virus to 104, the health ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said on its Web site the boy had fallen sick on February 3 with fever symptoms and respiratory problems after five chickens belonging to him and a neighbor died. There has been a sudden spike in bird flu cases in Indonesia since the start of the year. Some experts say the flare-up is caused by factors such as damp weather and poor sanitation during the rainy season....

PHILADELPHIA - Monday mornings are hard enough. Imagine finding 50 chickens running loose in your high school. Workers arriving about 5:30 a.m. to open Northeast High School in Philadelphia found dozens of hens and roosters wandering around the hallways. The birds were apparently brought to the school sometime over the weekend, said school district spokesman Fernando Gallard. "We don't know where the chickens came from or who they belong to," Gallard said. "I'm pretty sure there is a very upset poultry farmer somewhere who wants them back." The floors were covered with droppings and chicken feed. Most of the school's...

Bird flu may be spread indirectly, WHO says By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Thu Jan 17, 8:22 AM ET The H5N1 bird flu virus may sometimes stick to surfaces or get kicked up in fertilizer dust to infect people, according to a World Health Organization report published on Wednesday. The WHO team reviewed all known human cases of avian influenza, which has infected 350 people in 14 countries and killed 217 of them since 2003, and found that 25 percent of cases have no explanation. Most are passed directly from bird to people, they noted in their report,...

Indonesia bird flu death toll hits 100 Mon Jan 28, 8:00 AM ET A 23-year-old Indonesian woman from East Jakarta has died from bird flu, taking the country's death toll to 100, according to a report from Indonesia's bird flu information centre on Monday. The woman died on Sunday and two separate laboratory tests confirmed she contracted H5N1, the report said. Earlier on Monday, a 9-year-old Indonesian boy who had tested positive for bird flu died, the health ministry said in a statement. The boy from the outskirts of Jakarta died at the Sulianto Saroso hospital on Sunday after being...

MARGRAM (BIRBHUM): Hundreds of goats have died of an unknown disease over the past four days in Birbhum's Rampurhat block II. Some experts warned that if the H5N1 virus — which causes bird flu — has jumped from birds to mammals, it could be the turn of humans next. TOI met jittery villagers in Dakhalbati, one of the affected villages in Birbhum's Margram. Abdul Mohid, a farmer, said his goat was shivering and sneezing and saliva was oozing from its mouth. Mohid had called in a local vet, who could only say the animal was suffering from high fever but...