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The conflict over publishing controversial bird flu research may come to a head next Monday, as the Dutch government meets to consider whether it should lift controls that have kept a scientist from openly discussing his work with the deadly virus.

Export controls designed to restrict international trade in weapons are keeping scientists from sharing their research on the bird flu virus.

A government advisory committee has reconsidered its advice to keep certain details of bird flu experiments secret. Revised versions of manuscripts that describe two recent studies can be openly published, the committee now says. The decision could help end a debate that has raged within the scientific community for months.

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The government released a new policy on how to handle legitimate biological research that could be misused in the wrong hands. The move comes as controversy still swirls around recent experiments with lab-altered bird flu.

An expert committee that advises the government is once again going to review some controversial studies on bird flu to see if they can be published openly. Last year, those experts said no, because of concerns that the work could be misused and was too dangerous, but the government asked it to reconsider after a World Health Organization panel came to the opposite conclusion.

It's been an unusually late and mild flu season this year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people have gotten their flu shots, which seems to be helping. But there's still time for the flu to break out.

Health officials say flu season is finally here – marking one the latest starts in nearly 25 years. Nationally, people typically begin showing symptoms in…

A small group has gathered at the World Health Organization in Geneva to discuss a controversy over experiments that generated genetically altered viruses. After the meeting, which ends Friday, the WHO will announce what happened behind closed doors.

When schools in Alberta, Canada, closed for summer in 2009, it put the breaks on the swine flu outbreak in the province, says research from McMaster University. But authorities have to weigh the costs and benefits of preemptive closure, and there isn't always a clear answer.