Pandemic News

The strain of influenza that caused the 1918 flu pandemic (Spanish flu) probably came from birds, according to a new study.

The strain of flu that caused a pandemic during the 1950s remains a risk to human populations today, according to a new research report. The virus is said to be residing in bird populations.

The Black Death – an epidemic of bubonic plague in the 14th century – decimated between one third and one half of Europe’s population, yet it was the best thing to have happened to Mankind in many centuries.

With millions of people expected to participate in the annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina between July and October, the heightened risk of the global spread of MERS-CoV infection in the period is causing concern among health officials.

In the backdrop of two emerging outbreaks of H7N9 bird flu and the SARS-like novel coronavirus, the H5N1 strain has re-emerged, ushering in a third viral threat to health authorities in several countries.

French health officials reported the need to test for additional cases of the SARS-like coronavirus that appears to have emerged from the Middle East, as the novel virus continues to demonstrate its ability to spread among human populations.

As the death toll from the H7N9 bird flu virus climbed to 31 on Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assured the public that the current strain does not pose a pandemic threat.

As the H7N9 bird flu virus continues to spread through China, scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have reported the discovery of a new drug to aid in the treatment of severe influenza infection.

Chinese scientists have taken two directions in studying the H7N9 bird flu virus - from mapping its potential infection routes to blending the virus with human influenza strains.

With 26 deaths attributed to the H7N9 bird flu outbreak in China and a known mortality rate of 20 percent, scientists are expressing their concerns on the seriousness of this virus.