HEALTH: Thais Make Cheap Generic Drug Against Bird Flu

Having succeeded in producing cheap generic drugs to help people with HIV/AIDS enjoy longer lives, Thailand is now ready with generics capable of helping its citizens fight the onslaught of another deadly virus - bird flu.

HEALTH-ASIA: Grappling with a Tough Bird Flu Virus

With its 900,000-strong army of public health volunteers and its spending of over 250 million U.S. dollars to help affected poultry farmers, Thailand was held up as a role model for combating the spread of the deadly bird flu. But the avian influenza virus has proved it has many tricks under its wings.

HEALTH: Pre-Pandemic Vaccine at the Forefront in Bird Flu Fight

Some 17 countries are hard at developing experiments ultimately aimed at preventing the spread of bird flu amongst humans. So far, avian influenza has killed 120 people. The rapid production of effective, low-cost vaccines will not prevent a pandemic from happening, but could sharply reduce its impact, say experts.

MEDIA-INDONESIA: Reporters Get the Bird Flu Jitters

''I really feel strongly that the issue of health and safety of reporters covering avian flu must be addressed by the management of news organizations,'' said Daenk Haryono of the North Sumatra-based ‘Harian Global' daily.

HEALTH: Bird Flu Adds to Indonesia’s Woes

Fears that Indonesia may emerge as the epicentre of a global bird flu pandemic are adding to the woes of a country struggling to cope with the aftermath of Saturday's temblor that left more than 5,500 people dead in central Java.

HEALTH: WHO Assembly to Face Controversies Over Patents, Taiwan

The most controversial debates at the 59th World Health Assembly will involve the question of intellectual property rights and health, and Taiwan's request to participate as an observer.

VIETNAM: No Bird Flu Offensive Since Tet

The annual Tet Festival, celebrated in Vietnam to mark the arrival of the lunar new year, brought with it good health tidings for the government of that South-east Asian country, this year. The festival, in January, was free of the bird flu menace and the run of good luck has held.

HEALTH-EUROPE: The Feline Link in the Bird Flu Chain

For fear that cats could contribute to a more rapid expansion of the bird flu virus, H5N1, several European governments have taken precautionary measures related to these and other domesticated animals. Many citizens are even turning their pet cats over to animal shelters.

HEALTH-ASIA: Caught Between Bird Flu and Burma’s Junta

South-east Asian governments are caught between tackling bird flu and Burma's secretive junta, which is keener on strengthening its iron grip on power than addressing a possible global pandemic.

HEALTH: Bird Flu Unpredictability Worries Doctors

When a 12-year-old boy became Cambodia's latest victim of bird flu, at the beginning of this month, it only added to the uncertainties surrounding this lethal virus that worry scientists and doctors struggling to head off a possible pandemic.

BIODIVERSITY: Bird Flu Also Threatens Rare Mammals

The threat of avian flu is looming over a wide range of species, including rare and endangered ones, warned experts attending a two-week international conference on biodiversity here.

HEALTH-BURMA: Bird Flu Breaks Junta’s Insularity

After years of oppression and secretive rule, Burma's generals appear to have come up against resistance from an unlikely opponent-avian flu virus.

FINANCE: Travel Soars Above Avian Flu

The mood at this year's 40th International Tourism Board travel fair, now at the halfway stage in Berlin, is remarkably buoyant despite avian bird flu scares and continuing terrorist threats in some parts of the world.

HEALTH: Europeans Chicken Out

"Fifty percent discount!" screams a poster on top of a pile of unwanted roasted chickens. And there are more discounts around on chicken. Despite official guarantees that eating chicken is harmless, poultry sales have plummeted 70 percent in Italy.

HEALTH-EUROPE: Bird Flu Anxiety Soars

The mushrooming of cases of wild birds infected with the avian flu virus in at least seven European Union countries is causing anxiety across the continent, with a dramatic decline in poultry consumption and numerous reports of dead birds.

HEALTH: Europe Struggles With Prevention of Avian Flu

With the avian flu spreading rapidly across the European Union (EU), health und agriculture authorities, private poultry breeders and the public are uncertain over the right preventive measures to take.

HEALTH: India Caught Unready for Bird Flu

India's first confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza or 'bird flu' surfaced in western Maharashtra state, over the weekend, catching authorities unprepared and threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of poultry workers, in this populous, farming country.

HEALTH: EU Tightens Measures to Control Bird Flu

European Union experts are calling for calm over the increasing threat of bird flu as the virus continues to spread throughout the bloc.

CORRUPTION-HEALTH: A Killer Combination

Corruption in healthcare is killing people and denying treatment around the world, says a new report by Transparency International, the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog.

TRINIDAD: Bird Deaths Not Avian Flu, Gov’t Says

A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. But for the majority of Trinidad and Tobago nationals, a recent photo of their health minister, John Rahael, eating a piece of chicken did not convey a reassuring message.

HEALTH: ‘Surveillance Key to Tackling Bird Flu’

Surveillance and capacity building in countries hit by the avian flu virus have been identified as key to containing a potential pandemic, said experts at an international conference on the pestilence that ended here on Friday.