Bird Flu has been found in Pennsylvania in wild ducks. Don’t be alarmed. This is not the deadly for of the bird flu virus knows by scientists as H5N1.

These mallards were tested August 28 in Crawford County, PA. The ducks seemed fine which was a quick tip-off that this was not the deadly bird flu virus found in Asia that has killed at least 141 people.

Bird Flu seems to be spreading but has slown due to summer. There is a chance that it picks up speed and hits North America this winter.

Bird Flu has been found in pigs. This is worrisome because pigs carry viruses much like humans. You know how pig skin, pig hearts, etc are used in humans?

It is the same with various influenza strains. If the bird flu mutates in pigs to be transferred pig to pig it would also be transferrable human to human.

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The H5N1 bird flu virus has infected pigs on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
“There were two pigs that were infected by bird flu in Bali. These were old cases that happened last July,” Musni Suatmodjo, agriculture ministry director of animal health, told Reuters.

Koran Tempo newspaper had reported on the weekend that a team from the veterinary faculty at Udayana University had discovered avian influenza infected two pigs in the regencies of Gianyar and Tabanan in Bali.

It was not clear if the pigs died from the bird flu.

Pigs are a concern because (more…)

New Drug Blocks Influenza, Including Bird Flu Virus

Opening a new front in the war against flu, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have reported the discovery of a novel compound that confers broad protection against influenza viruses, including deadly avian influenza.

The new work, reported online this week (Oct. 4, 2006) in the Journal of Virology, describes the discovery of a peptide — a small protein molecule — that effectively blocks the influenza virus (including bird flu) from attaching to (more…)

An Iowa native on the forefront of influenza surveillance says while knowledge of virus transmission has increased since previous pandemics, many challenges remain.

Doctor Nancy Cox, who grew up on a farm near Spencer, is the chief of the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She says no vaccine to protect against the bird flu is available yet. At least three vaccines are under development, but there is no timeline on how soon a vaccine might be available.

Cox says bird flu is not the same as pandemic flu — it’s a pandemic threat. –>

U.S. preparations against a possible outbreak of the deadly form of the H5N1 bird flu virus are solid, but other countries may not be as ready against a bird flu outbreak, a U.S. health safety official warned on Thursday.

“We’re … close to the state-of-the-art in the United States with preparations and strong biosecurity measures,” said Ambassador John Lange, the State Department’s special representative on avian and pandemic influenza (bird flu).

But abroad, “it’s a mixed bag,” Lange said during a meeting of poultry industry leaders in Washington.

Be prepared for the Bird Flu.

Tags: bird flu, United States Bird Flu