Outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Japan and anti-influenza virus activity of povidone-iodine products.

Objectives: On January 12, 2004, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5N1 strain, occurred in a one-layer flock in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. It had been 79 years since the last outbreak of avian influenza was confirmed in Japan. By February, 3 additional outbreaks had occurred (1 in Oita Prefecture and 2 in Kyoto Prefecture).

In vitro short-time killing activity of povidone-iodine (Isodine Gargle) in the presence of oral organic matter.

In order to estimate the clinical efficacy of a povidone-iodine oral antiseptic (PVP-I) on oral bacterial infectious diseases, we studied the effect of oral organic matter on the in vitro killing activity of PVP-I. In addition, we compared the in vitro short-time killing activity of PVP-I with those of other oral antiseptics using mouth-washing and gargling samples collected from healthy volunteers. When any of the mouth-washing and gargling samples was used, the standard (0.