Iowa Declares State of Emergency Over Bird Flu

Medicine & Technology May 01, 2015

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency on Friday to help battle the toll that the recent bird flu epidemic is taking on the state's poultry industry.

Unusually Virulent Bird Flu Dooms Millions of Eggs and Hens in Its Path

Apr 28, 2015

Tests have found probable avian flu outbreaks at five new commercial poultry sites in Iowa, affecting more than 6 million birds and even more eggs, according to the state's agriculture department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In the Wake of Ebola—H7N9 Influenza Has Spread in Secret

Mar 13, 2015

In the wake of the Ebola pandemic, researchers in China have identified a virus capable of global infection that has been mutating and brewing on the sidelines. A strain of the avian influenza, the H7N9 flu emerged in eastern China in Feb. 2013 in a small population with a mortality rate of roughly 33%. But over the last year, since it reemerged in October 2013, the virus has been spreading steadily, and mutating along the way. Now public health officials fear that the growing viral infection may soon reach the levels much like the Ebola outbreak, and it is something that researchers are heavily investigating.

Chinese Bird Flu Could Potentially Become a Pandemic

Mar 12, 2015

The strain of influenza that has swept across China is the second wave of bird flu to hit the country and has mutated frequently. Scientists now believe that this strain of bird flu "should be considered as a major candidate to emerge as a pandemic strain in humans."

First Case of Deadly Bird Flu Confirmed

Dec 30, 2014

The first case of the deadly bird flu has been confirmed in Hong Kong and health officials fear that this season may see many more infections that past cases of H7N9 -- the newest strain of the disease. Patient zero, a woman from Hong Kong, is in critical condition, and has been confirmed as having the lethal strain of the influenza virus, marking the first case of the deadly flu this winter.