Medical research

Controlling inflammation to conquer lung infection

The latest studies at Hudson Institute of Medical Research have identified a novel therapy that controls the body's response to the influenza virus, limiting damaging inflammation and promoting recovery from severe infection.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Two-year-old Cambodian girl dies from bird flu

A two-year-old Cambodian girl has died from bird flu, the health ministry said Monday night, the second death recorded in the country in two days.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Cambodian man dies from bird flu

A 50-year-old man has died from bird flu in Cambodia, the health ministry said on Sunday, the second death from the virus recorded in the country this year.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Despite worries, experts say bird flu unlikely to effect humans

Bird flu has been making headlines over the past month, resulting in millions of bird deaths, driving up poultry and egg prices, and raising public concern over potential human infections. According to the experts, however, ...

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Influenza A virus subtype H5N1

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as "bird flu," A(H5N1) or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the Influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species. A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for "highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1", is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as "avian influenza" or "bird flu". It is enzootic in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia. One strain of HPAI A(H5N1) is spreading globally after first appearing in Asia. It is epizootic (an epidemic in nonhumans) and panzootic (affecting animals of many species, especially over a wide area), killing tens of millions of birds and spurring the culling of hundreds of millions of others to stem its spread. Most references to "bird flu" and H5N1 in the popular media refer to this strain.

According to the FAO Avian Influenza Disease Emergency Situation Update, H5N1 pathogenicity is continuing to gradually rise in endemic areas but the avian influenza disease situation in farmed birds is being held in check by vaccination. Eleven outbreaks of H5N1 were reported worldwide in June 2008 in five countries (China, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam) compared to 65 outbreaks in June 2006 and 55 in June 2007. The "global HPAI situation can be said to have improved markedly in the first half of 2008 [but] cases of HPAI are still underestimated and underreported in many countries because of limitations in country disease surveillance systems".

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