Soldiers toting M-16s strengthened their grip on this swamped city as concerns grew about the risks posed by the toxic floodwaters and officials braced for what could be a staggering death toll by readying 25,000 body bags.

Using the unmistakable threat of force, police and soldiers went house to house to try to coax the last 10,000 or so survivors of Hurricane Katrina to leave storm-shattered New Orleans because of the risk of disease from the putrid, sewage-laden floodwaters.

The US government is getting ready to test a bird flu vaccine and stockpiling both vaccine and antiviral drugs as the threat grows that a deadly strain of avian influenza will begin spreading from Asia.

Health and animal experts warned bird flu could trigger the next global pandemic as they opened a three-day conference today in Vietnam on how to control what has been deemed the world’s biggest health risk.

As public health officials scramble to find more flu vaccine and experts debate how to increase the US supply, presidential candidate John Kerry hopes voters will come to one conclusion – the severe shortage the United States now faces is President George Bush’s fault.

A MAN who was admitted to a midlands hospital with suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is not suffering from the virus.

THE World Health Organisation has warned that a highly contagious and deadly pneumonia-like illness of unknown cause is fast becoming a worldwide health threat.

AN effective but risky smallpox vaccine is to be made available to every person in the United States, beginning with the military and health workers who would be in the front line of any bioterror attack.