It has been known that live bird and wet markets play a major role in facilitating emergence or reemergence of infl uenza and some other respiratory diseases (10) (11) (12) . Moni-toring of live bird and food markets as an early warning system should be implemented in Asian countries where such markets are still commonplace, and routine surveillance of these markets should be conducted year-round. In addition, raw bird meats should be handled with caution, and consumption of raw bird meats should be avoided. Increased public awareness about the risks for infl uenza virus (H5N1) in association with live bird and food markets will help prevent and control subtype H5N1 infection in humans. Figure 2 . Phylogenetic analysis of the hemagglutinin (A) and neuraminidase genes (B) of infl uenza virus (H5N1) isolates. Phylogenetic trees were generated by using the PAUP computer program (4) and applying the neighbor-joining algorithm with branch swapping and bootstrap analysis with 1,000 replicates. The trees were rooted to A/goose/China/Guangdong/1/96 (H5N1). Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis and some other medicinal plants commonly used in South-East Asia BACKGROUND: Eight medicinal plants were tested for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Different extraction methods were also tested for their effects on the bioactivities of the medicinal plants. METHODS: Eight plants, namely Herba Polygonis Hydropiperis (Laliaocao), Folium Murraya Koenigii (Jialiye), Rhizoma Arachis Hypogea (Huashenggen), Herba Houttuyniae (Yuxingcao), Epipremnum pinnatum (Pashulong), Rhizoma Typhonium Flagelliforme (Laoshuyu), Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis (Houpo) and Rhizoma Imperatae (Baimaogen) were investigated for their potential antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. RESULTS: Extracts of Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis had the strongest activities against M. Smegmatis, C. albicans, B. subtilis and S. aureus. Boiled extracts of Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis, Folium Murraya Koenigii, Herba Polygonis Hydropiperis and Herba Houttuyniae demonstrated greater antioxidant activities than other tested medicinal plants. CONCLUSION: Among the eight tested medicinal plants, Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis showed the highest antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Different methods of extraction yield different spectra of bioactivities. Some medicinal plants used in traditional Chinese medicine are effective in treating various ailments caused by bacterial and oxidative stress. As new drug-resistant bacteria strains emerge, especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci, new drugs or adjuvants have been actively searched in medici-nal plants [1] [2] [3] . New antioxidants such as plant phenolics [4] [5] [6] [7] are sought for general health maintenance, antiaging and chemoprevention.