The answer to controlling Avian Influenza in Asia is probably found in a balanced approach. That includes improved biosecurity on farms, modernising poultry operations in high-density areas, segregating ducks and geese from chickens and vaccinating poultry in high risk areas.

The Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO), working with the National Institute of Animal Health (NIAH) in Thailand have decided to set up a regional surveillance and diagnostic network to control Avian Influenza.

Science has long recognised the value of rotating drugs to maintain efficacy. While this strategy has been used with varying degrees of success with certain antibiotics, it never caught on with vaccines, until scientists took a harder look at infectious bursal disease (IBD) in broilers.

Avian influenza is a real threat, says David Nabarro, the UN System Senior Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza. Nabarro is himself a survivor of one of the other threats the world is coping with: as a representative of the World Health Organisation, he survived the bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad in 2003.

Avian flu in Egypt is more than just a viral problem; it is affecting many aspects of life. Measures are being taken to help the country recover from the crisis, and further steps are being planned to help control AI more effectively in the future.

Progress in molecular biology and the need to rapidly identify human and avian pathogens has resulted in unprecedented advances in diagnostic technology which will benefit producers worldwide. A number of these new approaches were reviewed at the recent Western Poultry Disease Conference held in Sacramento, CA in the USA.

Mass culling of birds following an outbreak of a highly pathogenic disease is a painful and delicate job. Burning and burying live birds is unacceptable and gives the poultry industry a bad image. Here are some more humane ways to deal with emergency depletion.

How ready is Asia to provide a rapid and decisive response to the first signs of an influenza pandemic caused by the H5N1 virus circulating in poultry? The answer to this crucial question was given at an important avian influenza meeting in Tokyo earlier this year.