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Whether cats can transmit the virus strain, A(H5N1), to humans is not known. The World Health Organization of the United Nations has received no reports that cats played a role in afflicting the 35 people who have developed A(H5N1) infection, all in Thailand and Vietnam, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the agency in Geneva. Those cases were traced chiefly to direct contact with sick birds. Many influenza experts and health officials fear a worst-case occurrence in which a person becomes infected with both an avian influenza virus and a human one. Under such a circumstance, the viruses might swap genes, creating a new virus that could cause an epidemic all over the planet. The laboratory that reported the new findings, which is in Rotterdam, has done research on A(H5N1) since 1997, when its scientists detected the strain in a child who had died of the disease in Hong Kong. A month later, scientists identified the A(H5N1) virus in three dead cats, and in a white tiger that recovered after becoming ill in the same zoo where the leopard died. The cats belonged to a Thai woman who had 15 in all, 14 of which apparently died of avian flu, although the remains of only those three could be found for testing. The woman did not develop bird flu

Whether cats can transmit the virus strain, A(H5N1), to humans is not known. The World Health Organization has received no reports that cats played a role in afflicting the 35 people who have developed A(H5N1) infection, all in Thailand and Vietnam, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the agency in Geneva. Those cases were traced chiefly to direct contact with sick birds. A month later, scientists identified the A(H5N1) virus in three dead cats, and in a white tiger that recovered after becoming ill in the same zoo where the leopard died. The cats belonged to a Thai woman who had 15 in all, 14 of which apparently died of avian flu, although the remains of only those 3 could be found for testing. The woman did not develop bird flu. First, Dr. [Thijs Kuiken]'s team introduced the Vietnamese virus into the airways of three European shorthair cats, the breed generally used in animal experiments. All three became sick beginning the next day, and one died on the sixth day of illness. In comparison, none of three cats infected with the most common type of human influenza virus became ill

The vaccine problems raise concern because Chiron, the world's fifth-largest vaccine manufacturer, is under contract with the United States government to produce pilot supplies of human vaccines against two strains of avian influenza, which has spread widely in Asia. The pilot vaccines are needed because health officials around the world have expressed fears that in a worst-case scenario, the avian strains could mutate to cause a human pandemic. The rates of adverse reactions were significantly higher among the children receiving the Chiron vaccine, which is made in Italy, than among children who received a vaccine made by another company, the Brazilian representative of the Pan American Health Organization said. The organization, part of the World Health Organization, supplies the vaccine. Chiron's vaccine against the three childhood diseases is sold in Italy, Asia and South America, but not in the United States, said Ms. [Alison Marquiss]. She said the episode in Brazil was the first time any problems had been reported from Chiron's MMR vaccine

Chiron makes about half the 100-million-dose supply that federal health officials expected to be used this flu season. Its chief executive, Howard Pien, said in a telephone interview that it informed the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the problem on Wednesday. Other than a relatively small amount sent to distributors in July, Mr. Pien said, the company will probably not begin issuing the vaccine until mid-October, about a month later than expected. Chiron (pronounced KY-rohn), based in Emeryville, Calif., outside Oakland, manufactures the vaccine in Liverpool, England. Its quality controls cover a wide range of tests, said Mr. Pien, who declined to specify which of those the eight contaminated Fluvirin batches had failed. He said the contamination was biological in nature and possibly due to human error, but again would not be more specific. The four million doses in the eight batches will be destroyed, Mr. Pien said. He said that though Chiron shipped the first one million doses of Fluvirin to distributors in July, they had not been distributed to doctors and clinics

Tens of millions of doses of standard influenza vaccines are produced on a seasonal basis, and the industry does not have the capacity to produce a pandemic vaccine at the same time. So, the government is taking steps to help manufacturers produce vaccine at any time of the year, [Anthony Fauci] said. 'Vaccination with a pandemic strain-specific vaccine is likely to be the most important strategy for preventing morbidity and mortality from pandemic influenza,' the plan said. But the initial supply will be limited. Because the influenza virus mutates quickly and unpredictably, the A(H5N1) strain may change significantly in an epidemic. Or some other strain may cause the next pandemic. So mass production of the A(H5N1) vaccine would come only if the virus started spreading from human to human, which it has not done so far. **

The spread of polio to Guinea and Mali brings to 12 the number of previously polio-free African countries that have experienced an outbreak of the disease since January 2003. Guinea and Mali are outside a ring of countries that conducted synchronized polio vaccination programs last winter in an attempt to create an immunologic firewall to limit the spread of the disease from Nigeria and Niger. In addition to Guinea and Mali, the countries to which polio has spread from Nigeria are: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Togo

The administration released the plan at this time in part because of the recent experience with severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and the anthrax attacks. Also, health officials are deeply concerned about the wide spread of the A(H5N1) strain of avian influenza that has devastated poultry and bird flocks in Southeast Asia. Experts fear that the genes of A(H5N1) could combine with the genes of a human influenza strain to create an entirely new virus that could ignite a worldwide epidemic. Because the influenza virus mutates quickly and unpredictably, the A(H5N1) strain might change significantly as it causes an epidemic. Or some other strain may cause the next pandemic. Meanwhile, the government has stockpiled enough of the antiviral drug, Tamiflu, to prevent or treat influenza in one million people. A full course involves taking 10 Tamiflu pills -- two a day for five days. But that would be woefully inadequate to treat enough people in a pandemic

As of Aug. 24, there were 602 polio cases worldwide, of which 476, or 79 percent, are in Nigeria. Ninety percent of the world's cases are in Africa, where all but two countries Nigeria and Niger had been freed of polio by the end of 2002. In addition to Guinea and Mali, the countries to which polio has spread from Nigeria are Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Togo

Guinea and Mali are outside a ring of countries that had conducted synchronized polio vaccination programs last winter in an attempt to limit the spread of the disease from Nigeria and Niger. Polio was last reported from Guinea in October, 1999, and from Mali in January, 1999. As of Aug. 24, there were 602 polio cases worldwide, of which 476, or 79%, are in Nigeria. Ninety per cent of the world's cases are in Africa, where all but two countries -- Nigeria and Niger -- had been freed of polio by the end of 2002. Black & White Photo: Georges Gobet, Agence France-Presse / A medical assistant administers drops of polio vaccine to a child...; Black & White Photo: Georges Gobet, Agence France-Presse / ...earlier this year in Ivory Coast. The World Health Organization fears an outbreak of polio in northern Nigeria could lead to an epidemic of the disease, which it had hoped to eradicate by the end of the year, across sub-Saharan Africa

The spread of polio to Guinea and Mali brings to 12 the number of previously polio-free African countries that have experienced an outbreak of the disease since January 2003. The spread also deals another serious setback to the agency's efforts to eradicate the disease by year's end, a goal that is hampered by a funding gap of $100 million. Guinea and Mali are outside a ring of countries that conducted synchronized polio vaccination programs last winter in an attempt to create an immunologic firewall to limit the spread of the disease from Nigeria and Niger. Polio was last reported from Guinea in October 1999 and from Mali in January 1999. In addition to Guinea and Mali, the countries to which polio has spread from Nigeria are: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Togo