International cooperation urged on bird flu

Updated April 15, 2008 09:19:17

More than 100 people have died in Indonesia from birdflu since the virus. [AFP]

America's top health official says Indonesia and the United States must work together to prevent a global bird flu pandemic.

The US Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt, made the comment after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta.

Mr Leavitt says bird flu is a danger to the whole world and stressed the importance of international cooperation.

"The United States has very important relationships here in Indonesia, that involve joint work in laboratories in various levels of research, and we have pledged to continue that," he said.

"We have the same concerns about a global pandemic. If (flu) is present everywhere then there is danger everywhere, and we must work together."

Since the virus emerged in Asia in 2003, it has caused 107 deaths in Indonesia, 13 of them this year.

There are concerns among flu experts that the lethal H5N1 strain of the birdflu virus could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, raising the possibility of a pandemic.

In February, after nearly six months' hiatus, Jakarta sent birdflu virus samples to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, a laboratory working with the World Health Organisation, after winning an assurance that it would get access to affordable vaccines.

However, the Indonesian government says it will supply the samples on a limited case-by-case basis until the WHO completes a new mechanism governing virus sharing.

Indonesia attracted international criticism last year when it stopped sharing the samples, saying it wanted guarantees from wealthy states and drug companies that poorer nations would be given access to affordable vaccines derived from their samples.