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.
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Indonesia relents over bird-flu sample release. Nature 451, 1041 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/4511041b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4511041b