Health officials test birds at an Indonesian market. Credit: F. LISNAWATI/AP

Indonesia has resumed sending samples of the H5N1 bird-flu virus to the World Health Organization (WHO) after refusing to share samples for more than a year (see Nature 450, 1137 ; 2007). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, a WHO flu collaborating centre, has received a batch of samples from two patients — a woman who died earlier this month, and a girl hospitalized after her mother died of the disease.

The move is seen as an encouraging step towards ending a dispute in which Indonesia has argued that it is unfair that it should share samples without having access to affordable vaccines developed by countries using its samples. It wants a material transfer agreement to protect its rights over the samples.

The latest samples were sent under a draft agreement that allows the WHO to use them for research, but bans their commercial use without Indonesia's consent, says one source close to the negotiation.