# 1820
I had to carefully check the date on this Reuters report because it could have been printed at least a half dozen times over the past year.
The impasse over the sharing of virus samples apparently continues, with Indonesia now `cherry-picking' which samples to send to the WHO pending the implementation of a `new mechanism for virus sharing' now being drawn up by the WHO.
Indonesia limits sharing of bird flu samples
Mon 24 Mar 2008, 10:34 GMT
JAKARTA, March 24 (Reuters) - Indonesia will not fully share bird flu virus samples with the World Health Organisation until a new global mechanism is in place, a senior official said on Monday.
Indonesia is the nation worst hit by H5N1 avian influenza, with 129 human cases, of whom 105 have died.
Indonesia sent bird flu virus samples last month to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a WHO-collaborating laboratory, after a nearly 6-month hiatus when it won assurance that it would get access to affordable vaccines.
But Bayu Krisnamurthi, head of a national commission dealing with bird flu, said Indonesia would only send virus samples on a case-by-case basis until a new virus sharing mechanism currently being drawn up by the WHO took effect.
"The health ministry decides whether or not to send samples," he told a news conference on the sidelines of a meeting to step up the campaign against bird flu in the capital Jakarta and surrounding areas.
He declined to say under what circumstances the ministry would decide to send samples to a WHO collaborating laboratory.
