China says no evidence of new bird flu strain

BEIJING, Nov 2 (Reuters) China has found no evidence of a new strain of H5N1 bird flu in its southern provinces and said today there was no need to share virus samples with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States said in a report released this week they had detected a new strain of bird flu, first isolated in the southern Chinese province of Fujian last year, that may have started outbreaks in Southeast Asia.

But China rejected the report, published in the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (www.pnas.org), saying there was no evidence of major changes to the virus since 2004.

''Up to now, the bird flu viruses selected from the south share a high uniformity,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference.

''There has no marked change in the biological characteristics of the organisms.'' China, home to the world's biggest poultry population, has been at the centre of the fight against bird flu, which scientists fear could mutate into a form that can pass easily between people, potentially leading to a pandemic.

It has battled dozens of outbreaks in birds, and seen at least 21 human cases, including 14 deaths.

But the World Health Organisation says its understanding of the virus and how it might be changing is being hampered by the fact China has not shared animal virus samples since 2004.

''It's our understanding that there have been certainly changes in the virus and continual evolution in the virus since 2004 and the viruses that we requested from 2005 have still not been shared with WHO,'' said Julie Hall, the WHO's bird flu coordinator in Beijing.

The point was not whether there were major differences in virus strains, she said: it was about being able to keep abreast of changes, however minute, to better understand how the virus is developing.

''Whether it be dramatic or significant, it's about that regular understanding so that we can see that we're keeping on top of this,'' Hall said.

China was criticised for its initial cover-up of the SARS virus, which first emerged in its southern province of Guangdong in 2003, but the government has defended its handling of bird flu, saying it has been promptly reporting outbreaks.

Liu said China was maintaining ''close cooperative relations'' with the WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in dealing with H5N1.

REUTERS SSC KP1612