According to the health authorities, a fresh outbreak of bird flu was discovered in Hajo block of Kamrup district in Assam. Since last Saturday, over 200 birds have died in the area.  

The state authorities have ordered culling thousands of chicken and ducks.

R. C. Jain, a senior state government official said, “We were informed that the samples sent to laboratories in Bhopal and Pune have been tested positive. So we have ordered for culling in the area, which will start today.”

"It is H5N1 stain," added the official.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed the presence of 'trace amounts' of melamine in a US-manufactured infant formula. The toxic chemical has sickened tens of thousands of infants in China, and killed four - the faked formula having large amounts of melamine added to watered-down milk, to make it appear to have appropriate protein content.

The trace amounts of melamine and its by-product, cyanuric acid, were found in formula from Abbott Laboratories, Nestle and Mead Johnson, which together make more than 90% of all infant formula produced in the United States.

In a landmark decision, the Union Health ministry on Tuesday released the first India-specific guidelines for prevention and management of obesity and metabolic syndrome.

As per the new standards released by the Ministry, a person with a body mass index of 23 kg/m2 will be considered overweight and below that as one with normal BMI - unlike the cut-off limit of 25 kg/m2 earlier. Now, those with BMI of 25 kg/m2 will be clinically termed obese (as opposed to 30 kg/m2 at the international level) and those with BMI of 32.5 kg/m2 will require bariatric surgery to eliminate excess.

Watching too much television, low self esteem, disappointing grades and poor family relationships are some of the major factors which leads to early teenage sex. A study carried out by Dr. Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin and her team, have drawn a conclusion that "If you add up all the factors, you get a much more powerful predictor of who has sex and who doesn't". Hyde and her team studied 273 adolescents ages 13 to 15 -- 146 girls and 127 boys -- who took part in the 'Wisconsin Study of Families and Work.'

Doctors from Alfred Hospital are working on a new technique to treat tumors. The new technique involves using a precisely targeted electric "zap" to kill tumours. In this technique two thin needles are inserted into the body to surrounding the tumour then 90 pulses of high-voltage electricity is passed through the tumour over 45 seconds.