Brussels, 17/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 17 October the European Commission announced €28.3 million of new projects into avian and pandemic influenza. 17 projects were selected after a special call for proposals under the EU's Sixth Research Framework Programme. The new projects cover human and animal health, and address research needs identified by organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the UN. The €28.3 million allocated to these projects comes in addition to the €21 million already made available under the Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes. The €28.3 million is evenly divided between human and animal health projects. On the human health side the projects will cover research on better understanding of how the flu virus works as well as clinical research on vaccine development. The projects addressing animal health will cover vaccines, better diagnosis and early warning systems, increased knowledge of the avian influenza virus itself, technology transfer to third countries and a network for monitoring migratory birds. Nine of the selected projects include third countries, such as Russia, China, Vietnam, Australia, US, Canada and Croatia. There are also several small and medium-sized companies involved in the projects. (oj)