New findings, reported in today in the online open access journal Respiratory Research, about how the virus binds to the respiratory tract and lung suggest children may be particularly susceptible to avian influenza,. The results also mean that previous receptor distribution studies may have to be re-evaluated.

Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Rice University have developed a three-dimensional, molecular map that could yield clues about the genetic mutations that will allow bird flu to spread among humans.

Researchers have identified which sites and cell types within the respiratory tract are targeted by human versus avian influenza viruses, providing valuable insights into the pathogenesis of these divergent diseases.

The influenza A virus does not lie dormant during summer but migrates globally and mixes with other viral strains before returning to the Northern Hemisphere as a genetically different virus, according to biologists who say the finding settles a key debate on what the virus does during the summer off-season when it is not infecting people.

Since it first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, the H5N1 avian flu virus has been slowly evolving into a pathogen better equipped to infect humans. The final form of the virus, biomedical researchers fear, will be a highly pathogenic strain of influenza that spreads easily among humans.

An international team of researchers says it has discovered what makes the bird flu virus so deadly. It appears the disease affects a wide range of organs other than the lungs in adults and is capable of killing the fetus of pregnant women.

Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have successfully developed a miniaturized device that can be used to detect the highly pathogenic avian flu (H5N1) virus.

An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu occurred among ducks in southern China, according to China's Agriculture Ministry, Hong Kong's health secretary said Monday.

A group of international health experts has drafted a three-year program for Indonesia aimed at containing the spread of bird flu. The disease is now endemic among poultry there, and chickens are a common backyard feature in the country, which has suffered the highest number of human deaths from bird flu in the world.

More than 200,000 ducks would be slaughtered at two farms in Bavaria to avoid bird flu spreading. The head of Bavaria's state office for health and food safety, Volker Hingst, said the slaughter was "a purely precautionary measure," taken after "laboratory indications of H5N1" were found. The birds were not visibly sick, he said.

Researchers say studies do not confirm whether wild birds are carriers of the H5N1 bird flu virus. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from Bangkok, where experts are gathering this week to figure out better ways to track how the disease is spreading.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reinforced that Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is the primary recommended antiviral of choice in managing patients infected with H5N1 in updated guidance published on the WHO website today.