Plea for greater effort to counter global spread of scourges like Foot and Mouth.

Wild birds including Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), Goosander (Mergus merganser), Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Gadwall (Anas strepera), Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) found dead on a lake in Ubsu Nur, Tuva, Russia, have tested positive for H5N1.

A new mechansim--preen oil secretion and preening--may be a hitherto unknown way that avian influenza viruses, including the highly pathogenic H5N1, may be spread.

A nationwide study shows that some species of songbirds are surprising carriers of avian influenza.

Contact with wild bird droppings is suggested to be the source of introduction of H5N1 into a commercial facility in Israel.

One bar-headed goose and two ruddy shelducks marked with satellite transmitters migrated from Qinghai, China to breeding grounds near H5N1 outbreak areas in Mongolia.

HPAI H5N1 virus discovered in pikas at Qinghai, China

"The data collected on whooper swan migration ecology and behaviour, coupled with the timing of H5N1 outbreaks and the relative poultry density at the outbreak locations, suggest the species has been a victim, rather than vector of disease transmission in eastern Asia."

Humans, horses, dogs, whales, seals, birds, cats, ferrets and even raccoons are known to be susceptible to the tiny eight-gene viruses. Researchers in Tennessee have now added giant anteaters to that list.

121 wild birds were found and tested positive for HPAI H5N1 in Qinghai province

H5N1 has been detected in the deaths of 121 wild birds in Hainan, Qinghai, China. (Article in Chinese).

Scientists fear the emergence of a virus that combines the features of H1N1 and H5N1.

While the H1N1 flu strain at the heart of latest global epidemic did evolve in swine, its ancestors came from waterfowl, says scientist Richard Webby, who has analyzed the viruss genetic code in his position as head of a World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Memphis, Tennessee

"Swine Flu Source Traced to Birds and People"

The first bird to test positive for H5N1 this year in Europe has been reported from a bird shot in January in Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany.

A government panel concluded the December 2008 H5N1 outbreak in a poultry farm in Hong Kong was "most likely" spread by wild birds.

A gray heron and a peregrine falcon are among the seven birds found to be H5N1-positive in Hong Kong, leading to the closure of the Mai Po Nature Reserve for 21 days.

A retrospective analysis shows that the H5N1 outbreak in backyard duck flocks in Germany in Dec. 2007 that had previously been attributed to wild bird contact was instead due to the use of infected poultry products as feed.

A USGS project has placed satellite transmitters on ducks in Hong Kong in order to trace their migratory pathways.