The H5N1 avian flu virus has been found in 11 countries this year and is endemic in Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria, an international conference in Italy reported.
The 400 experts gathered in Verona said there is no sign yet that the deadly strain has mutated to allow person-to-person infection, the Italian news agency ANSA said. The disease has killed scores of people worldwide but almost all have been shown to have been infected through contact with domestic birds.
One of the key issues for discussion is how to use vaccination to keep the disease from spreading.
Stefano Marangon, who heads an Italian research center, said that the H5N1 virus has been found in only a few birds in Italy, even though the country is a major route for birds migrating between Africa and Northern Europe.
While the bird flu experts were meeting in Verona, another group of animal health experts at a conference in Vienna got the chance to examine devices aimed at speeding the work of diagnosing avian influenza.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Related stories:
Sharp unveils new anti-bird flu air purifier
Japan's Sharp Corp. said Wednesday that it has developed an air purifier that eliminates 99.9 percent of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu within 10 minutes.
Indonesian villagers test negative for bird flu: health ministry
Thirteen people in Indonesia suspected of having bird flu have tested negative for the feared disease, the country's health ministry said Saturday.
Indonesia probes bird flu 'outbreak'
Indonesia has rushed a team of specialists to a village in Sumatra to confirm a suspected outbreak of bird flu which has affected at least 13 people, a health official said Thursday.
Pandemic flu: Most nursing homes don't have a plan
If an influenza pandemic hits the United States, acute care hospitals are likely to be overwhelmed. Nursing homes may then be expected to assist with the patient overflow, but a new study in the
Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that many are not prepared for such a task.
Political borders, health-care issues complicate pandemic planning
Panic, staffing issues and geographic boundaries are some of the challenges that public health experts need to address as they plan for a possible influenza pandemic, according to a new report from Purdue University.
Flu pandemic medical help left in the waiting room
GPs are not an integral part of Australian influenza planning, despite the important role they will play in limiting deaths in the event of a pandemic hitting the country, according to research from The Australian National University.
Battling bird flu by the numbers
A pair of Los Alamos National Laboratory theorists have developed a mathematical tool that could help health experts and crisis managers determine in real time whether an emerging infectious disease such as avian influenza H5N1 is poised to spread globally.
What horses can tell us now about the coming human flu pandemic
Stored safely in a freezer at Cornell's James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health are samples of the virus thought to be most like the one public health experts expect someday to afflict record numbers of the world's population. The virus was collected in 1973 during an outbreak of equine influenza at a Florida racetrack. Dorothy Holmes, an infectious disease specialist in Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, had obtained samples of the virus with the intention of using it to create nasal spray vaccines for horses.