Source: http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Gl...&aid=200805159
Indonesia agrees to give bird flu information to new online database
Thursday, May 15, 2008 11:20 AM
JAKARTA (AP)-Indonesia's health minister says she will give all genetic information about her country's bird flu virus to a new global database.
Experts say that will go a long way toward monitoring the disease that is threatening to spark a pandemic.
Indonesia has been withholding bird flu virus samples and DNA sequencing data from the World Health Organization for more than a year. It says the global body's 50-year-old virus sharing system is unfair to developing countries.
That has made it impossible for scientists to see if the virus was mutating to a more dangerous form.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari says she decided to cooperate with the online databank that launched Thursday because it is fully transparent and protects intellectual property rights.
Indonesia agrees to give bird flu information to new online database
Thursday, May 15, 2008 11:20 AM
JAKARTA (AP)-Indonesia's health minister says she will give all genetic information about her country's bird flu virus to a new global database.
Experts say that will go a long way toward monitoring the disease that is threatening to spark a pandemic.
Indonesia has been withholding bird flu virus samples and DNA sequencing data from the World Health Organization for more than a year. It says the global body's 50-year-old virus sharing system is unfair to developing countries.
That has made it impossible for scientists to see if the virus was mutating to a more dangerous form.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari says she decided to cooperate with the online databank that launched Thursday because it is fully transparent and protects intellectual property rights.
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