Vitamin D supplementation may have a small, preventative effect against influenza infection in children, according to an RCT conducted by a team of Taiwanese researchers.
A chilled chicken sample sold by mainland China to Hong Kong has been found to contain the avian influenza (AI) virus, government officials have confirmed.
Local government authorities in China may not be fully aware of the potential threat posed by bird flu, after human infections of H7N9 were detected this month.
The UN’s agriculture and animal welfare bodies have called for the development of a robust detection and response system to check a resurgent outbreak of an avian influenza strain that can be lethal for humans.
The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has moved to reassure consumers that the nation’s poultry and poultry products are safe for consumption following an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu in the neighbouring region of Kelantan in Malaysia.
An outbreak of avian influenza (AI) in China that has already claimed the lives of more than 100 people is likely to hurt the pockets of farmers, according to analysts.
As many as 79 people died in China from the H7N9 avian influenza strain last month, raising fears the outbreak could lead to an influenza pandemic, the Chinese government has claimed.
China’s supply chain faces a challenge with historically low breeding stock supplies compounded by outbreaks of bird flu in markets China depends on for a regular flow of grandparent birds.
After a deadly outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) strain H5N1 rocked Vietnam’s southern meat-producing hub, experts have warned the country will continue to suffer from the virus.
Iraq’s inability to tackle the cause of bird flu means the deadly virus is likely to spread across neighbouring countries, according to an expert on animal diseases.
Hong Kong has suspended live poultry imports to control the spread of a serious bird flu outbreak after samples from Tuen Mun tested positive for the H7N9 strain.
Just one month after securing its bird flu-free status, South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed bird flu has been detected near the country’s capital, Seoul.
Trade bans following recent bird flu outbreaks in France will not just affect China’s white bird breeding stock imports over the coming months, but also the global market structure.
A woman from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen has died after she became infected with the deadly H5N6 bird flu strain, Hong Kong’s Health Department has said.
A series of human infections from bird flu this year, alongside a spate of import bans, illustrates the acute fear among Chinese officials over the threat posed by live poultry during this particularly turbulent winter period.
Hong Kong has banned the import of poultry from some regions of Japan, Israel and Nigeria following the announcement of H5 avian influenza outbreaks there.
Chinese authorities have announced a ban on all imports of US poultry and egg products, including processed and unprocessed products and breeding stock, after the detection of avian flu in America’s pacific states.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has said a new strain of avian influenza, H5N6, needs to be closely monitored in order to avoid a major threat to animal health.
A recently-emerged strain of avian influenza virus in poultry in Southeast Asia represents a new threat to animal health and livelihoods and must be closely monitored, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned.
Human patients infected with the A(H7N9) strain of avian influenza are not able transmit the virus to animals, including birds, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Hong Kong’s food safety and health authorities have shifted gears and initiated counter measures after the discovery of the H7N9 bird flu virus in a batch of live poultry from mainland China.
Human infections with the influenza A(H7N9) virus are on the rise again in China and the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities provide opportunity for further spread and human exposure, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned.
Saudi Arabia has indicated it may soon allow the import of poultry products from Pakistan, eight years after banning them to prevent the spread of bird flu.
Chinese authorities have confirmed that a sample taken from a live poultry market in the country’s Guangdong province has tested positive for bird flu H7N9.
Dietary supplements containing fucoidan from seaweed may amplify the immune response to seasonal influenza vaccinations in the elderly, a population known to have an inadequate immune response to ‘flu vaccines, says a new study from Japan.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has warned that the current outbreak of avian influenza H7N9 in China will be difficult to control, because birds infected with the virus show no visible signs of illness.
Authorities in China and Hong Kong have warned people to avoid contact with poultry following an outbreak of a new strain of bird flu, which has left three dead.
A number of countries have banned poultry products from Australia over bird flu fears despite claims from the country’s authorities that the latest outbreak has been “successfully controlled”.
The Chinese government is fighting a fresh major outbreak of avian influenza virus H5N1 in southern China, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). It says the outbreak was first reported on 11 September at a duck farm in the city...
Hong Kong’s food chief has said that the risk of a local avian influenza (AI) outbreak remains at a “stable and low level”, but warned the poultry industry must remain vigilent.
Japan and Hong Kong have suspended imports of Australian poultry products, including meat and eggs, following an outbreak of low pathogenic avian influenza on a duck farm in Victoria.
Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has suspended poultry imports and eggs from Australia following the bird flu outbreak in Victoria earlier this week.
The detection of a H1N1 virus in turkeys in Chile poses no threat to the food supply chain but does raise concerns that poultry farms elsewhere in the world could become infected with the pandemic, said the FAO.
A survey of the effects of bird flu on the Spanish poultry market
demonstrates the complex interplay between government intervention,
consumer concerns and industry reaction to a disease that has the
potential to cripple the sector.
The Asian poultry industry continues to send out contradictory
messages in the wake of the bird flu outbreak. Whilst Thailand
looks set to restock its poultry flocks - a move which some
industry observers believe could be premature...
Vietnam is seeking to import between 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of
corn for feed as it moves to restock poultry flocks hit by the
outbreak of bird flu earlier this year, even though the FAO has
warned the country not to resume poultry...
China claims to have had an early success in stamping out the bird
flu that has been causing severe hardships to the country's
numerous poultry farmers, after the mass culling of some nine
million birds over the seven weeks since...
