# 1992
This comic opera, going on now for well over a year, may be on the verge of coming to an end. With the exception of two samples from Bali last year, Indonesia has refused to submit bird flu samples for genetic analysis since early 2007.
The very public, and oft times less than diplomatic squabbling over this issue between Indonesia's Health Minister and representatives of the CDC and the WHO have been a source of frustration to everyone concerned about pandemic influenza.
Well, according to reports this morning, Indonesia will begin sending genetic information on their bird flu viruses to GISAID, the newly opened Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data.
This AP report calls Health Minister Supari an `unlikely hero', which is a description I would take serious issue with. She has withheld absolutely vital information for more than a year, and in doing so, put the entire planet at risk.
Call me petty, but I tend to take umbrage in the face of this sort of irresponsible policy.
This outcome, however, is welcomed. We'd be far better off if all nations (including our own) deposited all known bird flu information into this public database.
The big question I have, and that isn't clarified in today's report, is who will do the genetic sequencing of the virus samples in Indonesia? Will they send the samples to an outside lab? Do they have the facilities, and the expertise, to do it themselves?
When NAMRU-2 was operational, I am certain they did. Now, I've no idea.
GISAID's website may be accessed here.
Indonesia to provide bird flu data online
By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer Thu May 15, 1:43 AM ET
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia's health minister said Thursday she would start sharing all genetic information about her country's bird flu virus with a new global database, to monitor whether the disease is mutating into a dangerous pandemic strain.
China, Russia and other nations that have long withheld influenza virus samples and DNA sequencing data from international databases are also taking part in the initiative, saying it offers full transparency and, for the first time, basic protection of intellectual property rights.
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari became an unlikely hero in the bird flu fight when in January 2007 she decided to buck the WHO's 50-year-old virus sharing system, which obliged member countries to submit bird flu samples and data to the global body, saying it was unfair to developing countries.
<snip>
The free, online site launched Thursday, 18 months after strategic adviser Peter Bogner and 77 influential scientists and health experts wrote a letter to Nature magazine calling for information about bird flu to be shared more quickly and openly, and creating the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data, or GISAID.
