A new bird flu vaccine developed by Novavax from insect cell cultures has shown favorable results by spurring an immune response in the second stage of the human clinical trials.

The Rockville, MD-based developer has been pursuing a partnership with General Electric to advance a new flu vaccine that could be swiftly produced in large quantities. The company uses new technology that can cut to 10 to 12 weeks the time it takes to manufacture vaccines. This is half the time required to make egg-based vaccines

Scientists claim they have found a new strain of avian flu, the H9N2 virus, which could mutate to become more easily transmissible among humans and trigger a possible bird flu pandemic.

According to a study published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, the avian influenza strain found in Nigeria is genetically different from previous African outbreaks

The bird flu detected in Nigeria last month is a new strain of the deadly H5N1 virus that has not been recorded in Africa previously.

Laboratory tests from Nigeria and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Italy found the virus from "backyard poultry" in Katsina and Kano states to be an H5N1, clade 2, EMA3

A new, faster-to-make whole-virus bird flu vaccine may protect against multiple bird flu strains, early studies in humans suggest. The new H5N1 vaccine appears to be safe, more effective than the one currently approved for human use and also able to be manufactured much more quickly than conventional vaccines, researcher said.

Current flu vaccines are grown in fertilized hens' eggs and the long process takes 22 weeks. Due to this drawback, the vaccine can only be manufacture seasonally, when the eggs are available

Bangladesh health authorities confirmed on Thursday that a 16-month-old boy who became infected with bird flu had recovered after treatment. The south-Asian country has become the 15th country to have a human case of H5N1 avian influenza, according to news services.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta confirmed on Wednesday that child is from Dhaka, the capital; an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report quoted Saluddin Khan, a government official, as saying