HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam -- The recent emergence of A/H1N1 flu highlights a wider concern among scientists: Pig and other animal populations are growing too rapidly, raising the odds of disease outbreaks and other environmental problems. A pig had a bath at a farm in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, earlier this month.

Two additional deaths attributed to swine flu were reported over the weekend, with both victims suffering from other health conditions.

CAIRO -- A five-year-old Egyptian girl has contracted the highly pathogenic bird flu virus after coming into contact with infected birds, the state news agency MENA reported on Sunday. The case brings to 69 the number of people confirmed to have contracted the H5N1 avian influenza virus in Egypt, which has been hit harder than any another country outside Asia.

A plan to stop Foot-and-Mouth disease spreading to Europe, has been agreed on by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. 14 Middle Eastern and West Asian countries including Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon are most affected by the disease which is transmitted by cloven-hoofed animals.

Allegations that a Co Offaly family are running a puppy factory with hundreds of breeding dogs at a location which may be contaminated by canine brucellosis have been denied. The handling of the case has also provoked a row between two of the country's leading animal welfare groups.

In January, when consumers were looking for frequent updates on tainted peanut butter, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a Twitter feed, CDCEmergency. By late April, a modest 2,500 people followed it. Then the world turned its attention to the much more frightening prospect of swine flu.

A man who already had heart problems died last week from what appeared to be complications from swine flu, health officials in Washington state said Saturday. The death, which has not yet been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would be the third in the United States linked to the virus, which health officials refer to by its clinical name, H1N1.

OTTAWA -- About 500 Canadian pigs in quarantine since the swine flu virus was detected at their Alberta, Canada farm have been put down, provincial authorities said.

TORONTO -- There is no smoking gun in the case of the H1N1 infected pigs - and authorities investigating the first known infections of pigs with this new swine flu virus may not be able to unearth one, a senior Canadian Food Inspection Agency official admits.

Edmonton, Alta. -- We came to Alberta in 2003 from Holland with the dream of building a farm where we could raise our family. We are proud of our farm and the healthy hogs we have been raising. Right now, we have around 2,500 pigs on our farm which we have raised from our own 220 sows.