WHO Asia Pacific head calls on China to release bird flu samples

BEIJING (AP) - A senior World Health Organization official appealed to China to hand over samples of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, saying Friday that Beijing has failed to release any samples from its dozens of outbreaks in poultry this year.
WHO's Asia-Pacific director Shigeru Omi said that sharing virus samples is crucial to diagnosing new cases, and to developing a vaccine that could prevent a possible pandemic in humans. China's Ministry of Agriculture shared five samples collected from infected birds last year but has failed to provide any this year, Omi said.

"From the more than 31 reported outbreaks in animals from 2005, no (Chinese) viruses have been made available so far for the international community," Omi said. "Time is of the essence."

China's Ministry of Health agreed this week to give the WHO samples isolated from two of its six confirmed human cases of bird flu.

Jia Youling, director of the Chinese Agriculture Ministry's veterinary bureau, which has led China's efforts against bird flu, declined to respond to Omi's remarks. He referred questions to his ministry's press office, which did not return phone calls.

Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Omi contrasted China's behaviour with that of Vietnam, which has made samples from its poultry cases available to WHO scientists.

"If the pandemic starts due to the virus from Vietnam we are prepared," Omi said. "But if the pandemic emerges due to a virus circulating in China, we are not yet prepared for that."

China reported its sixth human case of bird flu last week.

It has confirmed two human deaths and a suspected case in a 12-year-old girl who died. It has reported 26 outbreaks in poultry since Oct. 19.

The H5N1 strain has killed at least 71 people in Asia since 2003.

Scientists have determined that bird flu strains in Vietnam and Thailand resemble each other, while a distinct second strain has affected birds in China and Indonesia.

A potential third strain may have affected birds and sickened at least one human in northeast China's Liaoning province, Omi said.

"The outcome of this battle in China has ramifications not only for the region but also for the entire world," he said. "Maybe in China there are two sub-strains, maybe more. We don't know."

Alongside his critique, Omi praised the country for controlling and containing bird flu.

China has mounted an aggressive campaign against the disease, destroying millions of birds and starting a program to vaccinate all of its 5.2 billion chickens, ducks and other poultry. The government says the effort is nearly complete.

But Omi cautioned that vaccinations are "not a magic bullet," and have only a 70 to 80 per cent effectiveness rate.


China has also established a nationwide network of officials to raise awareness of bird flu symptoms and report on new cases.

Omi urged China to spend more money on disease education and surveillance in rural areas.

© The Canadian Press, 2005