Flu related
- Official influenza sites: information about the virus and preparedness guidelines.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Flu.gov
- WHO - Influenza Surveillance
- NYC Influenza Information
- Tracking the flu:
- Google flu trends - via user queries
- Rhiza Labs - Rhiza Labs + Google technologies
- In the news:
- Last May Nature published the first of 2 controversial studies that describe how the virus can mutate to transmit from ferret to ferret through air.
Science followed suit with the second team's work on June 22. In this paper, only 5 mutations were needed. It is assumed that if the virus is easily transmited between these animals, it could generalize to all other mammals, humans included.
The New York Times analyzed these studies; experts warn that they don’t know how likely it is that H5N1 will follow the mutations presented in the paper or a different one. "We are still woefully ignorant about how all of this works" - Dr. Taubenberger.
From NYT "The Evolution of Bird Flu, and the Race to Keep Up".
- American officials agreed to publish results of the study that tweaked the bird flu virus into a strain that could be passed
between humans through air.
From The Economist .
"Nature likes biological weapons more than human villains do. The best defence is more research, not less." .
- Bird Flu Research Rattles Bioterrorism Field - NPR News.
Also featured in The Economist .