Bird flu infects girl in Djibouti

Human infection by the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus was confirmed in a 10th country on Friday as it emerged that China continues to stall over the timely delivery of samples to global health professionals.

Djibouti became the first country in the Horn of Africa to report the virus, which was confirmed in a two-year-old girl patient. Other cases this year were identified in Egypt and Iraq, bringing worldwide infections to 208 with 115 deaths.

The news came as officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) said they had still not received samples from China of the lethal H5N1 virus in animals, despite requests over several months.

The stand-off makes it more difficult for inter-national experts to understand the frequent evolutions in the virus, track its spread around the world and develop the best vaccines and medicines for treatment.

The Chinese data are particularly important since the viruses originating there have been linked to a number of the more recent outbreaks in animals and humans in a number of other countries, including in Indonesia and Africa.

The Chinese Ministry of Health recently provided four new human samples of H5N1, from its 18 infected patients, but the Ministry of Agriculture has not made any available from infected livestock since 2004 although requests for 20 specific virus samples have been made.

The authorities’ reluctance to share is a sign it is wary of handing-over too much disease-related information to foreigners, possibly out of mistrust and a desire to receive credit for any breakthrough research.

“The situation is obviously very complicated,” a WHO official told the FT. “These viruses are very important…some information is available for global health purposes but clearly not all of it.”

Chinese authorities have generally been willing to share genetic sequencing information with foreigners but there have been consistent delays in providing samples. “It is still on the way,” said Henk Bekedam, the WHO China representative. “We would be disappointed if we don’t have any by the end of May.”