Indonesian researchers work on vials of influenza virus
As the world health organization (WHO) representative on pandemic influenza, Dr. David Heymann has one of the most important jobs in medicine: coordinating international preparations for a possible virus outbreak that could threaten millions of lives. That job got much harder on Feb. 7, when Indonesia announced it had stopped sharing with the WHO the samples of H5N1 avian-flu virus it had isolated. Simultaneously, Jakarta announced an agreement with U.S. drug company Baxter International, which will develop a vaccine from the strains and give Indonesia technical assistance in manufacturing it. For 50 years, the WHO has received free influenza-virus samples from...
