BANGKOK (Reuters) - Twenty people have died from contracting the H1N1 flu virus in Thailand in the past week, taking the death toll in the country to 44 since the epidemic broke out in April, the Public Health Ministry said on Wednesday. That has prompted neighboring Cambodia to advise its citizens not to travel to Thailand. "We call on the general ...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said Thursday that the H1N1 virus was stable and there was no sign yet of it mixing with other influenza viruses. Some health officials have raised concerns that if H1N1, known by many as swine flu, combined with the much deadlier H5N1 bird flu virus then the pandemic could claim many more lives. "The ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have confirmed 20 deaths from the new strain of H1N1 flu, with more than 11,000 confirmed or probable cases. Three U.S. deaths were reported on Wednesday -- two in New York and one in Connecticut. Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 11,054 confirmed and probable cases ...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Influenza viruses that normally infect birds are adapted to proliferate most efficiently at temperatures higher than those encountered in the upper airways of humans, according to a new report. "I think this study helps explain two things," Dr. Raymond J. Pickles told Reuters Health. It could be the reason why people need to be exposed to ...

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's health minister confirmed on Sunday the country's first cases of the H1N1 flu virus in two Chilean women who had returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic. The women, aged 25 and 32, flew home on Saturday and one of them reported having flu symptoms. Both were tested and the results came back positive ...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The next time you cough or sneeze, there is good reason to cover your mouth. As many as 20,000 viruses are expelled in an average cough, which may be sufficient to infect many people -- particularly those who are not vaccinated. Julian Tang, a consultant at Singapore's National University Hospital's Division of Microbiology, said as ...