International health ministers are vowing to speed up production of a pandemic bird flu vaccine

Defenders of Property Rights (DPR) announced on Wednesday its optimism that the Brazilian government has backed away from its position on seizing American AIDS drug patents.

DPR addresses the fact that Brazilian Health Minister Saraiva Felipe issued a bulletin to the National Council on Health stating the government's opinion that levels of HIV and AIDS are "under control" in Brazil, which has previously been Brazil's rationale for breaking patents on anti-AIDS drugs

Airlines may become a crucial factor in fighting the spread of bird flu, leading federal health officials to streamline procedures for the possible quarantine of sick passengers.

Federal health officials have authority to detain or isolate any airline passenger suspected of harboring the avian flu virus, which scientists fear could mutate, making it easier for the virus to leap from person to person and quickly spread globally

A campaign launched Friday aims to alert patients to the potential risks of counterfeit medicines, and the dangers associated with buying prescription-only medicines from unregulated Internet sites.

New research highlights consumer ignorance regarding the circulation of fake medicines. Counterfeit medicines are a serious global issue and a growing problem. It is difficult to gauge accurately the extent of the problem, but the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that more than 10% of the global medicine supply chain is counterfeit, with that percentage rising to 25% in some countries

A bird flu pandemic could cost the global economy up to $800 billion USD warns the World Bank.

It is "only a matter of time" until the deadly H5N1 virus becomes capable of human to human transmission and causes global chaos, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says