# 1901
The impasse between Indonesia and the World Health Organization and NAMRU-2 (Naval Medical Research Unit # 2) continues with no signs of abatement. Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor for Reuters, has the disconcerting details.
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U.S. says Indonesia stalling in talks on U.S. lab
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Talks between Indonesia and the United States over the future of a U.S. naval medical lab have become entangled in an international dispute over how to share crucial bird flu samples, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Monday.
He said Indonesian health officials are refusing to share samples of H5N1 avian influenza virus with the rest of the world. Meanwhile, negotiations over the future of the lab were also being held up.
"There is very little question that our lack of progress of getting that laboratory MOU (memorandum of understanding) renewed is connected to this," Leavitt told reporters.
Indonesian officials have said they only want to ensure equal access to any vaccine that are made against bird flu but Leavitt said they were also seeking payments.
The lab, the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 or NAMRU-2 for short, was central to Indonesia's early efforts to track H5N1. It was one of the few labs globally capable of the genetic analysis needed to identify H5N1 at the beginning of the epidemic, which started in 2003.
The agreement between the United States and Indonesia allowing NAMRU-2 to operate in Jakarta expired two years ago and has not been renewed.
