IRAQ, Serbia and Germany reported their latest cases of bird flu overnight as health officials and researchers around the world prepare to fight a possible deadly avian flu pandemic among humans.
The latest cases in Europe and the Middle East came hours after US Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said it was "just a matter of time" before wild birds and possibly poultry flocks in America contracted H5N1.
US officials said they bought more than 14 million courses of antiviral treatments from GlaxoSmithKline and Roche to prepare for a possible human bird flu pandemic.
The United States plans to have enough medication to treat 25 per cent of its population in the event of an outbreak.
In Tokyo, Japanese researchers said they had developed a new way of producing the anti-flu drug Tamiflu, considered one of the best defences against bird flu in humans, that does not rely on natural ingredients and may help ensure more stable supplies.
The H5N1 avian flu virus has killed 94 people in seven countries - Turkey, Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Cambodia. It has infected 174, giving it a more than 50 per cent fatality rate, but experts are unsure if some people may have had less serious infections that went undetected. Since 2003, H5N1 bird flu has been found in more than 30 countries.
RBY Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
