# 773
This morning we got the surprise announcement over the wires that Indonesia was resuming the shipping of H5N1 virus samples to the WHO. I posted it, almost without comment, because the first report contained so few details.
Helen Branswell now fills in some of the details for us, and right now it isn't clear if the WHO will continue to receive samples.
Indonesia sends three bird flu sample viruses to WHO but impasse not solved
May 15, 2007 - 17:27
By: HELEN BRANSWELL
(CP) - After refusing to share H5N1 avian flu viruses with the World Health Organization since the start of the year, Indonesian officials revealed Tuesday that virus samples were sent to a WHO collaborating laboratory earlier this month.
But the shipment was small, and contained only three samples. Indonesia has confirmed 15 or so human cases since the start of the impasse, which is over affordable access to pandemic vaccines.
It was not clear whether more sample viruses would be sent later, or if this was a one-off gesture.
"I am pleased to announce to all of you that Indonesia has resumed sending its H5N1 specimens to the WHO collaborating centre in Tokyo," Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told the WHO's annual general meeting, the World Health Assembly, in Geneva.
Supari, who is demanding equitable access to affordable H5N1 vaccine for developing countries, placed a motion calling for a new system of virus sharing, one which affords more rights to countries that provide virus samples to the WHO system. The resolution was endorsed by 17 countries, including Algeria, Laos, Malaysia, Peru, Iraq and North Korea.
The World Health Organization needs ongoing samples from H5N1-affected countries to monitor the evolution of the virus. That work looks for signs of mutations that might suggest the virus is acquiring the ability to more easily infect people or is becoming resistant to flu drugs such at oseltamivir (sold as Tamiflu).
The WHO influenza surveillance program, which has been in existence for more than 50 years, operates on a principle of free sharing. Flu viruses from around the world are submitted free of charge to WHO reference laboratories. Viruses deemed to be important new strains are turned into vaccine seed strains and provided free of charge to vaccine manufacturers.
