The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has warned that migratory birds might epidemically spread Avian Influenza, better known as bird flu, in the coming winter in the Asian lineage that includes Bangladesh.

The U.S. Army now believes a series of vaccinations may have caused the death of a 26-year-old soldier. According to the Pentagon, the soldier, Pfc. Christopher "Justin" Abston, received smallpox and injectable influenza vaccines in November 2005, at Fort Bragg, N.C., 16 days before suffering...

AP - Two dozen scientists from around the world gathered in high-tech classrooms and laboratories in central Iowa on Monday to learn how to diagnose avian influenza and control its spread.

Reuters - The trivalent influenza vaccine can be safely given to healthy children 6 to 24 months of age, doctors report in the journal Pediatrics.

The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa is ready to step in, in case a flu outbreak strikes the U.S. In the event of any bird flu suspicion, it is this lab that will intervene to confirm or rule out a possible presence of avian influenza in...

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, May 24 (HealthDay News) -- High-dose influenza vaccines may boost immune responses to the seasonal virus in older people, reducing their death risk, researchers report.

Reuters - Elderly people, whose immune responses typically weaken with age, can be safely protected against common influenza with doses of vaccine that are up to four times stronger than usual, researchers said on Monday.

AP - The government on Thursday awarded more than $1 billion to five drug manufacturers that are developing technology for speedier mass production of vaccines in case of a pandemic.

AP - A leading expert said Thursday the H5N1 virus is the worst flu virus he's ever encountered, and far too many gaps in planning and knowledge persist for the world to handle it in the event of a pandemic.

As bird flu experts gather at a meeting in Singapore, a top health economist warns that a human influenza pandemic may cost billions, and perhaps trillions of dollars. Martin Meltzer, at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in...

AP - The flu drug Tamiflu can prevent deaths in mammals infected with bird flu, suggests a new study that offers clues to the ideal dosage and duration needed for people, scientists said Wednesday.

AP - The flu drug Tamiflu can prevent deaths in mammals infected with bird flu, suggests a new study that offers clues to the ideal dosage and duration needed for people, scientists said Wednesday.

A commercially developed vaccine developed with the help of a St. Jude researcher has successfully protected mice and ferrets against a highly lethal version of the avian influenza virus. According to Richard Webby, Ph.D., assistant...

AP - The government is forecasting massive disruptions if bird flu or some other super-strain of influenza arises, including as much as 40 percent of the national workforce off the job, but U.S. borders probably won't be closed to fight the spread, according to a draft of the national response plan obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

Joanna Wypior - AHN Staff Reporter Washington, D.C. (AHN) – According to reports, should a pandemic influenza hit in the next year or so, the United States is ill-prepared in combating the virus. Globeandmail.com reports a pandemic flu is likely to strike one in three people if nothing...

AP - If a worldwide flu epidemic strikes, face masks should be considered a defense of last resort since there's little evidence about whether the masks available to the average person or most health care workers can prevent influenza infection, the Institute of Medicine said Thursday.

Chickens found dead on a farm near Dereham, Norfolk in east England were infected with bird flu, the government has said. The flu "is likely to be the H7 strain of avian influenza, and not H5N1,'' the Department for Environment Food...

AP - If pandemic influenza hits in the next year or so, the few weapons the United States has to keep it from spreading will do little, a new computer model shows.

AP - If pandemic influenza hits in the next year or so, the few weapons the United States has to keep it from spreading will do little, a new computer model shows.

AP - Even if bird flu does arrive on U.S. shores on the wings of a migratory bird, the virus is unlikely to makes the inroads in poultry — or in people — that it has in less developed countries, the nation's top avian influenza expert says.