"China secrecy stalls bird flu vaccine"

The Australian has the latest on the apparent unwillingness of the Chinese government to cooperate with international surveillance efforts of avian flu. A greater concern is their refusal to share isolates of the virus, making it more difficult to monitor the virus' rate of mutation as well as to develop maximally effective vaccines in advance of a potential pandemic. The story explains:

"More than 90 people have died as the disease has spread from China to Europe and Africa. Yet bureaucrats in Beijing have only just agreed to share samples of live viruses after refusing such information to the international community during more than 30 outbreaks of the H5N1 virus.

Their reasons appear to have been an instinct to monopolise information and resentment that Chinese scientists were not credited for research published in an American academic journal."

It's safe to say that this topic is part of a much larger political/diplomatic situation extending well beyond avian flu. For our focus, however, we've written previously that the development of a highly effective vaccine in advance of a pandemic is already an uphill battle. Without complete access to viral isolates worldwide, the task becomes all the more difficult.