Despite assurances from the Chinese government that it has bird flu under control, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has expressed concern over the potential problem in China, which has reported three separate instances of avian influenza in the past week.

Noureddin Mona, China's FAO representative, said, "The frequency of the outbreaks here increases the risk of human infection. Nobody can rule it out. It is premature to say bird flu is under control. Scientifically or operationally, you can't say it is under control. The opportunity is always there."

Poultry farmers in China, many of whom live in close contact with their birds, have expressed ignorance of outbreaks within their country, believing it to be largely unaffected.

Wang Guoqiang, who lives beside his flock of 1,200 ducks, was unaware of the disease's hold on his country. "It sounds like a serious disease, but we haven't had it here. I haven't heard of it in China this year -- there was last year. On television they said it can infect and kill people."

Chinese media has widely reported outbreaks in other countries but was providing little information to the poultry farmers at risk of contracting the disease from their flocks.

This lack of information is not dissimilar to Beijing's denials during the 2003 wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome infections, but the H5N1 bird-flu virus has the potential to be more dangerous, more deadly and more expensive. Early-detection failures caused by ignorance could rapidly increase the spread of an outbreak.

Meanwhile:

-- The United Arab Emirates has been charged with the role of coordinating the Gulf's bird-! flu strategy. There have not been any reported cases of avian influenza in the Middle East thus far.

-- GlaxoSmithKline, the largest pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom, announced Friday that it intends to begin clinical trials on an avian-influenza vaccine within weeks.

-- Chiron Corp., a California-based drug manufacturer, has been granted a license to produce additional supplies of Tamiflu for the national stockpile.

-- The U.S. Senate has approved $8 billion in emergency funds for bird-flu preparation.

-- Roche has temporarily suspended shipments of Tamiflu to the United States to ensure a sufficient supply of the drug for the annual (traditional) influenza season.

-- Should the H5N1 virus become transmissible between humans, Australians living overseas will be asked to return home, the Australian Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs announced. The move is designed to s! afeguard against the possibility of Australians becoming stranded abroad, should international borders become sealed.

-- Greenpeace has expressed fears that Mexico may be at risk from avian influenza, despite a ban on bird imports from affected countries, thanks to a bustling market -- legal and illegal -- in exotic birds. The environmental group has recommended a blanket ban on bird imports.

-- The UNFAO has criticized blanket bans on poultry imports, claiming that the ban on imports from non-affected countries will have a negative impact on the global market.

The agency announced that "trade restrictions to safeguard human and animal health should be imposed only in proportion to the risk involved and that they should be removed promptly when no longer needed.

"Bans on poultry products from disease-free countries increase uncertainties in the global meat market, which is already threatened by potentia! l supply shortages and rising meat prices because of continuing BSE-restrictions on North American beef shipments," according to the FAO.

"Markets have also been affected by recent import restrictions on meat from Brazil, the largest meat exporting country, in response to recent cases of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)."

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