China shares first bird flu samples in a year--WHO

GENEVA, Jun 1 (Reuters) China has shared the first human bird flu samples in more than a year, giving a boost to international efforts to track the deadly virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today.

The samples, taken from two people, were received yesterday night at the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, one of the WHO's collaborating laboratories, it said.

''They arrived last night at CDC,'' WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters in Geneva. ''We welcome it, it shows China is working with the international system of virus sharing.'' REUTERS SBC SSC1316