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Mary Ann Benitez

Analysis is required to detect changes in the H5N1 strain

Beijing has yet to share virus and clinical samples from bird flu patients with the UN health agency, WHO officials said yesterday.

Hitoshi Oshitani, World Health Organisation official leading the fight against bird flu in Asia, said: 'The [mainland] minister of health has committed to sharing the virus and we are discussing the details.'

Mainland health authorities have confirmed three human cases of H5N1 flu, two of whom died.

The first human case  on the mainland was confirmed on November 16, but virus samples had yet to be submitted to the WHO, Dr Oshitani said.

'This is the first case in China and we need to see what kind of virus it is,' he said.

A global meeting in Geneva last month  called for 'open sharing of virus samples as essential' to early detection and response to bird flu and prevention of a possible human pandemic.

Dr Oshitani said Beijing's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention was isolating the H5N1 virus from the three victims and others. The mainland was  obliged to share virus and clinical samples with the WHO 'as soon as possible so that we can analyse the viruses'.

'This is important because the WHO can keep track of the evolution of H5N1 flu,' he said

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 68 people in Asia since late 2003, and several countries in the region are regularly reporting more suspected cases in people and outbreaks in poultry.

Last month, China asked the WHO for help  in investigating the  death  of a 12-year-old girl from Hunan . It earlier insisted that her death was not due to  bird flu.

However, that investigation was made difficult because the girl had been cremated.  The girl's nine-year-old brother later tested positive for H5N1, but it took two weeks to confirm the results because experts had to wait for antibodies to develop, Dr Oshitani said.

The Hunan investigation also reviewed China's laboratory work and processes.

Dr Oshitani said virus samples needed to be analysed by the WHO and its reference laboratories so that seed vaccines could be developed in response to  changes in the H5N1  strain.

'That is our main concern, the possible implications for the vaccine development [for use in case of a flu pandemic]. That is why we need samples,' Dr Oshitani said.

'The strain that WHO recommended is based on the Vietnam isolates in 2004, and we already know that the virus saturating China and Indonesia are different.'

Roy Wadia, spokesman for the WHO's Beijing representative office said: 'China has said it will share human virus isolates and animal virus isolates with international laboratories, and we are looking forward to China doing so.'

He said the mainland had  shared genetic sequencing from animal outbreaks earlier this year, and has committed to sharing such information from the recent and future animal outbreaks, and human cases.

Another team from the WHO is in Anhui  to support the ongoing investigation into two confirmed human cases there.

On Monday, the Ministry of Health said its studies showed the H5N1 strain of the virus seen in the mainland cases had mutated, compared with the H5N1 strain found in Vietnam's human cases.

'The genetic order of H5N1 has mutated to a certain degree,' said spokesman Mao Qun'an.



Beijing urged by WHO to share its virus samples