WHO Launches System to Track Bird Flu Samples

This article, from Reuters and published in the Economic Times, discusses the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement that it has begun to disclose how and where the samples of bird flu virus it receives from affected countries are used, in response to poor countries' demands for more transparency. The concern is that the intention of using biological specimens to make affordable vaccines be tracked in a transparent manner to assure that there is no deviation from this purpose. In response to concerns, a downloadable electronic tracking system is now online, making public a listing of the samples received, the laboratory handling them, analyses carried out, and their possible use as vaccines for fighting a flu pandemic. According to the article, Indonesia, the country hardest hit by avian flu in recent years, is asking drug companies and researchers to use its samples for making an affordable vaccine, samples now trackable with this online system. As stated here, "[h]aving a 'traceability mechanism' in place was a key demand raised at a WHO meeting in November...", a demand which the online system intends to satisfy.



According to the data, China, Iraq, Nigeria, Vietnam, and other countries that have had human cases of bird flu have sent nearly 9,000 specimens from humans and animals suspected of infections with the H5N1 strain between 2003 and 2007. Of this group, 734 contained live virus strain. The WHO has recommended that 13 of them be made into so-called seed viruses for vaccine development. As stated in the article, in order to prepare for possible increased infection of humans, at least 16 companies are licensing a vaccine against H5N1, including Novartis, Glaxo, Baxter, CSL, and Sanofi Pasteur.



Editor's note: this article is no longer online.