At the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization on Tuesday, U.N. officials begin discussing the need to accelerate the global production of a bird flu vaccine.

Coordinator David Nabarro says it will take six months to compile a sufficient stock of vaccines

Colombian authorities announce Monday they have detected the first suspected cases of bird flu in the South American country, but insist the strain is not harmful to humans.

In a statement, the Agriculture Ministry says avian influenza was discovered in chickens at three farms in Western Colombia's Tolima state. The affected flocks were immediately quarantined to halt the spread of the disease

Romania and Turkey began the slaughter of thousands of domestic fowl Sunday, as a precaution against the spread of bird flu, after both countries confirm their first cases of the disease over the weekend.

In western Turkey, military police set up roadblocks at the entrance of a village near Balikesir. A two-mile radius was quarantined as veterinarians and other officials began destroying poultry at two turkey farms

The Perrigo Company announced that through a partnership with InvaGen Pharmaceuticals, it has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market Glimepiride Tablets.

Shipment of the product will begin immediately. The product is the generic equivalent to Aventis' Amaryl(R) Tablets, 1 mg, 2 mg and 4 mg, indicated for the treatment of diabetes

Officials from 80 countries gathered in Washington on Friday to come up with plans to fight the threat of a global outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu. President Bush urged pharmaceutical executives to focus on influenza vaccines. It's the latest in a series of preparations for a possible pandemic after criticism of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Experts have been warning since 2003 that bird flu is the biggest current health threat to the world but policy efforts to battle it have increased in recent weeks.

The virus has killed millions of birds across Asia and infected more than 100 people, killing more than 60 of them in four Asian countries. Manufacturing a vaccine for bird flu would involve the same methods used for a vaccine against regular flu. But experts say the country's flu vaccine system is now so weak that if there were a bird flu outbreak, a vaccine would not be an option. Following last year's flu vaccine shortage, Congress and health agencies are working to find ways to lure drug companies back into the business of making it