Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Next >> He noted that the virus is present in nearly all areas of Indonesia, which has reported a total of 105 human deaths from bird flu, including 11 this year.
To date, most human cases of bird flu in Indonesia and other affected countries have been the result of close contact with infected poultry. However, experts fear that H5N1 may mutate into a form that's easily transmitted between people.
Domenech said the human death rate "from bird flu in Indonesia is the highest in the world, and there will be more human cases if we do not focus more on containing the disease at the source in animals," AFP reported.
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New H5N1 variants have recently emerged, "creating the possibility that vaccines currently in use may not be fully protecting poultry against the disease," Domenech said.
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Progress Against TB Slowing: WHO
Progress against the global tuberculosis epidemic may be slowing, a World Health Organization report suggests.
The report, released Monday, found that the rate of new cases fell by less than 1 percent between 2005 and 2006, far less than the targeted annual decrease of 5 to 7 percent, the Associated Press reported.
The WHO report, based on government data from 202 countries and regions, said there were an estimated 9.2 million new TB cases and 1.5 million TB deaths worldwide in 2006. Countries with the most TB cases were India, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria. By region, Asia (55 percent) and Africa (31 percent) had the majority of TB cases.
The WHO said TB infection rates decreased about 3 percent in the United States and were stable in Europe, the AP reported.
Outdated drugs, obsolete diagnostic tests, overburdened health systems, and a lack of vaccines are among the factors contributing to the slowdown in the fight against TB, Dr. Marcos Espinal, executive secretary of the WHO's Stop TB Partnership, told the AP.
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