# 1509
Helen Branswell does what she does best; she brings us an inside look at an aspect of the fight to beat bird flu that previously has remained unpublicized: The submission of virus samples to WHO labs.
This is just a snippet of a much larger article. Follow the links to read it in its entirety.
Bird flu-afflicted countries have shared +700 viruses with WHO labs: report
By Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Countries afflicted with H5N1 avian flu sent more than 700 viruses to World Health Organization laboratories from 2003 to 2007 - and nearly a quarter of them came from Indonesia, a report released Monday reveals.
Of 734 viruses currently stored in WHO labs, 171 were provided by Indonesia, the country which for the past year has been at the centre of a standoff over access to viruses.
China, thought to be the birthplace of the H5N1 virus, has provided 22 viruses to the WHO network, 20 in 2006 and two in 2007. Its special administrative region, Hong Kong, has provided another four, according to the report posted on the WHO's avian influenza web site.
Since last February, Health Minister Dr. Siti Fadilah Supari has refused to allow specimens from Indonesian H5N1 patients to be released to laboratories in the WHO's network, complaining Indonesian viruses have been used to make vaccine the country cannot afford to buy.
The WHO needs the samples to monitor the ever-shifting H5N1 virus, to watch for mutations that might signal it is becoming more transmissible to and among humans and test whether the viruses are vulnerable or resistant to the few available anti-flu drugs.
The WHO also on occasion selects important new viruses to be used for vaccine development, providing them to pharmaceutical companies.
While Indonesia is the only country that has overtly refused to share viruses, several other affected nations and non-governmental organizations representing the interests of developing countries have lent support, backing Supari's vaccine-for-viruses campaign.
One of the most surprising finds: Of the 8,763 samples forwarded to WHO labs, only 734 yielded viruses.
