Posted on 09/08/2006 6:44:56 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China and WHO play blame game over bird flu
by Cindy Sui 2 hours, 1 minute ago
China's agriculture ministry has said the United States was to blame for the fact that it had not yet shared bird flu virus samples, but the WHO put the blame squarely on the ministry.
The samples could potentially save lives by helping global scientists study how the deadly avian influenza virus is changing, so they can come up with drugs and vaccines and prepare for a pandemic.
Samples are usually given to a laboratory designated by the World Health Organization, which does research to come up with a prototype vaccine and shares it freely with any country that needs it.
Most countries, including Vietnam, Mongolia and Turkey, have readily shared virus samples from poultry outbreaks as well as samples from human cases, but China has only shared human samples, none from poultry since 2004.
The Chinese agriculture ministry had agreed in March to provide 20 samples from poultry outbreaks, but six months later the samples still have not been shipped.
Julie Hall, a Beijing-based WHO expert on communicable diseases told AFP Tuesday she did not understand why the samples had not been sent when logistical arrangements were in place.
However, the ministry was quoted by the China Daily Friday saying the 20 samples are ready to go but the US lab that is supposed to analyze them has not completed the necessary import procedures.
An agriculture ministry official, who was not identified, said the delay had been caused because the US government only allows the import of undiagnosed samples. Those to be shipped by China had been diagnosed.
Hall dismissed the claim Friday, pointing out that the US lab had previously received diagnosed virus samples from human cases from the Chinese Ministry of Health.
"In fact, China each year ships 400 live viruses from regular seasonal flu using the same procedures," Hall said.
At issue, Hall suggested, was that China's agriculture ministry has not come around to putting global interests ahead of its own.
She said the ministry was probably not sharing the poultry viruses because it was more interested in developing a bird flu vaccine faster than others.
It also may fear that scientists can uses its viruses to pinpoint whether outbreaks from other countries originated in China, Hall said.
Virus samples from China are crucial because they involve a different sub-group of the H5 family of viruses, Hall added.
As a result of the agriculture ministry's inaction, the WHO has had to resort to getting the viruses originating from China from other countries like Mongolia, through infected wild birds flying from China to those countries, Hall said.
"What we hope is we get timely sharing so we don't have to wait for little wild birds to fly across the border," Hall said.
Initially, China's concerns that its scientists were not receiving credit was cited as the reason for not sharing.
However, the WHO said in March it had worked out an agreement with the agriculture ministry to give Chinese scientists due credit for isolating the viruses and other research.
The Chinese agriculture ministry did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.
Ping!
Bird flu, ping!
China engages in childishness rivaling North Korea's. Sad.
Further evidence of the Systematic propaganda still festering, the communist government's unrepentant enmity for the U.S.... and any major bastion of freedom on the planet. They will pile up defamation upon defamation to convince their pals in the Third World that they should gang up with them against us. Just like they cheered 9-11.
Thanks for the ping.
According to ProMed, China is having trouble with a lot of pig deaths (a million) due to some kind of fever, not strep suis.
So far, they state they are testing for viruses, but not H5N1.
Things that make you go hmmmmmm......
They must have a lot of epidemic problems which are not publicized. Not a nice feeling to have world's premier breeding ground for germs. So many people, livestock, and wild life interacting together.
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