Here’s a quick rundown of what we know about H1N1 Influenza A “Swine Flu” that’s currently sweeping the media, as opposed to the globe. The H1N1 virus appears to be a mild influenza, and is nowhere near as dangerous as N5N1. The H1N1 virus appears to bind to the receptors in the upper respiratory tract [...]

A girl aged two is critically ill with the H5N1 strain of bird flu in Shanxi, northern China, in the second case reported by China in as many weeks. The girl was discovered ill on 7 January in the central province of Hunan and taken to a hospital in her home province, Chinese state media [...]

Tests on a father diagnosed with bird flu in China have show he ‘probably’ caught the disease from his dying son. Writing in The Lancet, Dr Jeremy Farrar, of Vietnam’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said: “Whatever the underlying determinants, if we continue to experience widespread, uncontrolled outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry, the appearance of strains [...]

Passengers and crew on two recent transatlantic flights may have been exposed to a rare and unusually drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis by an unidentified man who is now under federal quarantine. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say it’s been more than 40 years since a similar isolation order was given. MSNBC.com

2,600 turkeys on a farm in Suffolk, UK have been killed by the H5N1 form of avian flu. The European Commission says tests have confirmed that the avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at a Suffolk farm is the H5N1 virus. That virus can be fatal if it is passed on to humans. According to [...]