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By Region: Asia/Pacific

Biosecurity must improve to combat bird flu

(FarmersWeekly) An outbreak of a new strain of avian influenza in China has prompted calls for people to change how poultry is sold, kept and slaughtered in the country. A H7N9 strain of avian influenza has been identified for the first time in humans in China, causing six deaths and prompting the Food and Agricultural Read More »

April 9, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Agriculture, Biosafety, and Public Health
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China’s stealthy bird flu spreads

(Nature) Chinese health authorities are urging calm as the circle of people infected with an elusive influenza virus widens. Over the past two days, Zhejiang province reported its first three cases — a 67-year-old retiree from Hangzhou, a 64-year-old man from Huzhou and a 38-year-old chef. The 38-year-old chef worked in neighboring Jiangsu province, where Read More »

April 5, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific and Public Health
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Pathogen Alert: H7N9 Avian Influenza Human Infections in China

(GlobalBiodefense) The World Health Organization (WHO) has received notification of three cases of human infection with influenza A (H7N9), previously unknown to infect humans. The cases were laboratory confirmed on March 29 in China and reported to the WHO by the China Health and Family Planning Commission on March 31, 2013. Two of the cases Read More »

April 3, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific and Public Health
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First human deaths from lesser-known bird flu strain H7N9

(Globe&Mail) Two Shanghai men have died from a lesser-known type of bird flu in the first known human deaths from the strain, and Chinese authorities said Sunday that it wasn’t clear how they were infected, but that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. A third person, a woman in the nearby province of Anhui, Read More »

April 1, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific and Public Health
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Takeda Submits NDA Application For Cell Culture-Based H5N1 Vaccines

(AsianScientistMagazine) Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited announced on Wednesday that it has submitted New Drug Applications for cell culture-based H5N1 and prototype pandemic influenza vaccines to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan, using its Hikari Plant as the manufacturing facility. In December 2010, Takeda and the Illinois, US-based Baxter International Inc. entered into Read More »