China holds back poultry bird flu samples

Saying delayed talks over protocol are to blame, China has not given the World Health Organization (WHO) any bird flu samples taken from poultry since 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported. Scientists want the samples to study the development of the H5N1 virus to make drugs and vaccines while tracking changes that may make the disease transmittable from human to human. Beijing promised in March to hand over samples taken from poultry to the WHO and has already handed over strains of the virus found in humans, but not poultry samples. "There are no real logistical reasons why the (poultry) virus can't be shared," said Julie Hall, coordinator for the WHO Epidemic Alert and Response Team in Beijing.