Gene sequence sharing and Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The World Health Organization on Wednesday confirmed the 60th case of human infection with the H5N1 strain of bird flu after a 6-year-old girl was tested positive of having the virus.

In a statement, the WHO said the girl from Bekasi in West Java Province
developed symptoms on Aug. 6 and was hospitalized on Aug. 11.

''She remains hospitalized but is recovering. The source of her infection is currently under investigation,'' the statement said as reported by Kyodo.

Of the 60 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 46 have been fatal.

The critics say Indonesia has not done enough to control the spread of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus and infections among hundreds of millions of backyard poultry.

In another statement, the WHO encouraged countries with avian influenza
activities to share H5 virus sequence information, saying it is a crucial step for improving the international response to the avian and pandemic influenza threat.

''In its coordinating role, WHO seeks to facilitate the timely release of
sequence data to the public domain?,'' it said

''Formal procedures exist by which the WHO reference laboratory initially
informs the originating laboratory of sequence results and simultaneously
requests permission to place these results in the public domain,'' it added.

''In the event of a negative reply or no reply, the WHO directly approaches the Ministry of Health in the originating country, requesting authorization to release sequence data.''

International researchers had protested to the Indonesian government, accusing Jakarta of refusing to reveal human genome sequences data.

Following the protests, Indonesia agreed early this month to make available the sequences for viruses from the country's bird flu patients.

Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which has been actively working with the WHO to encourage sharing of viruses from countries with avian flu activity, placed total genome sequences for over 40 H5N1 viruses into a public-access database.

Indonesia always sends samples of bird flu patients to the CDC, which is one among eight WHO reference laboratories in the world.

''Information on the gene sequences of H5N1 viruses is important for vaccine development, the preparation of reagents used for diagnostic purposes, and monitoring for drug-resistant strains,'' the WHO said.

''Sequence information on viruses collected over time and from different
geographical areas can help track evolutionary changes in the virus and
identify mutations,'' it added.

''Epidemiological findings remain the most important alert to changes in the virus that indicate improved transmissibility among humans.''

Bird flu has killed at least 141 people in 10 countries since December 2003, according to WHO statistics, and Indonesia has the highest fatality cases, followed by Vietnam. The other eight countries are Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Thailand and Turkey. (*)

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