Thailand will build a pharmaceutical plant that will produce drugs to fight Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, avian influenza, and manufacture other emergency medicines.

India will help Thailand build the plant in 18 months and at a cost of more than $27 million

A team of Japanese and Vietnamese researchers have discovered a mutation in the avian influenza virus that may cause the disease to spread from person to person, the Japanese media reported. At present, the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu infects human only by contact with diseased birds.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Monday that the findings of the team, led by Prof. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of Tokyo University's Institute of Medical Science, was published on a web-based science journal on Friday

An Indonesian woman from Sumatra island has died of bird flu, making her the 87th victim in the world's most affected country of the disease on Monday, Indonesia health ministry said.

The health ministry bird flu information center confirmed that the 44-years-old woman, which died at Pekanbaru General Hospital in central Sumatra, tested positive for the H5N1 string virus. Two samples were taken from the woman and both were positive for the virus

Bangladesh will receive US$ 2 million in grant from the World Bank's Avian and Human Influenza Facility (AHIF) to support the country's efforts to minimize the threat and risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

An agreement between the Bangladesh government and the International Development Association (IDA), the soft-lending window of the World Bank, was signed in the capital, Dhaka on Monday

Authorities have confirmed a new outbreak of the avian influenza in China's southern city of Guangzhou, Tuesday. The Administration for Industry and Commerce confirmed dead ducks from Sixian village in Guangzhou's Panyu district tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the bird flu.

The administration said 36,000 ducks were immediately culled, poultry markets were closed and remaining poultry were vaccinated at 24-hour monitoring centers established following the detection of the outbreak on September 5