BAD ZOONOSES IN ASIA

Let's just get the ledes on these, shall we?

32 Dead as China's Pig-Disease Crisis Escalates: The official Xinhua News Agency reports thirty-two villagers have died so far in a southeastern province in China that has been hit by an outbreak of a pig-borne disease. According to the report, Sichuan Province has documented 163 cases of swine streptococcus suis, among them 112 confirmed cases and 51 suspected ones.

UPDATE 8/1: "Sichuan authorities have ordered local journalists to stay away from locations where the disease has surfaced, and told newspapers to carry only stories as issued by the official New China News Agency." Well, that's a good sign, right?

Bird Flu Kills Two in Vietnam; Toll Now 60 The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that avian influenza could mutate and become easily spread from person to person, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds.

Russia: Bird flu can infect humans Investigators have determined that a strain of bird flu virus infecting fowl in Russia is the type that can infect humans, the Agriculture Ministry has said. In a brief statement, the ministry identified the virus as avian flu type A H5N1. "That raises the need for undertaking quarantine measures of the widest scope," the statement said.

AND IN BETTER ZOONOTIC NEWS...

FDA Finally Bans Use of Baytril in Poultry Margaret Mellon, director of food and environment at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the FDA's move was "a big deal. It's the first time FDA has withdrawn a veterinary drug on the basis of antibiotic resistance concerns, fearing that use of the drug in animals is going to erode the effectiveness of the drugs in human medicine."

Great. Let's just hope it's not too late to do any good, and that the FDA follows up by banning other livestock antibiotics sooner rather than later.