AP: WHO Blasts Chinese Government on Bird Flu

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHINA_BIRD_FLU

Nov 1, 8:17 PM EST

WHO Blasts Chinese Gov't on Bird Flu

By AUDRA ANG
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) -- The World Health Organization said its efforts to track the spread of bird flu have been complicated by the failure of China's Agriculture Ministry to share samples of a newly discovered strain of the virus.

Scientific research released this week said that the new strain - called H5N1 Fujian-like - had spread widely over the past year, being found in almost all poultry outbreaks and some human cases in China and now becoming prevalent in Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Despite that prevalence, the Agriculture Ministry has not given the WHO any samples of the new strain, said Julie Hall, an infectious disease expert at the WHO's Beijing office.

"There's a stark contrast between what we're hearing from the researchers and what the Ministry of Agriculture says," Hall said in a telephone interview. "Unless the ministry tell us what's going on and shares viruses on a regular basis, we will be doing diagnostics on strains that are old."

...

"This is a new disease. Nobody knows how to tackle it, nobody in the world has all the answers," Hall said. "But if they share ... then we will all gain from that."

She said the ministry has not shared bird flu virus samples from poultry since 2004 - a key step in developing diagnostic tools and vaccines.

...