A Chinese medical professor says that the Chinese people are registering rising obesity rates.

Professor Wu Yangfeng reported that between 1985 and 2000, the rate of overweight and obese children increased 28-fold

China's top health officials confirmed on Tuesday that the first lab-verified death from bird flu on the mainland of China took place in late 2003.

The November 2003 case was two years before the October 2005 case in the Hunan Province, where a 9-year-old boy was incorrectly identified as the China's first confirmed case

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has appointed Mark Goldberger, MD, MPH, as the new Medical Director for Emerging and Pandemic Threat Preparedness in FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).

In this new position, Dr. Goldberger will "plan, coordinate and implement activities related to the development and evaluation of products for emerging and pandemic threats

A Chinese farmer who reported bird flu outbreak to the government was sentenced to close to 4 years in jail on Tuesday. The Chinese court found the farmer guilty of fraud and blackmail.

Xinhua, China's state news agency, quoted the court ruling as saying, "The defendant used measures such as fabricating facts and hiding truth to swindle public and personal property ... so he should be punished for two crimes

A new report, discredits the effectiveness of Chinese herbs against SARS.

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, before it was brought under control infected 8,098 people worldwide and killed 774, according to the World Health Organization