Think about this one!

"INFLUENZA: Tense Meeting Produces Some Hope for Flu-Sharing Deal"
Martin Enserink, Science 30 November 2007: Vol. 318. no. 5855, p. 1361

"At stake during the Intergovernmental Meeting on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness was the Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN), which helps monitor viral evolution and prepare the production of vaccines against seasonal and pandemic flu strains....After 4 days of feverish debate and diplomacy, often stretching late into the night, participants agreed to embark on an overhaul of the system that Indonesia and other developing nations had demanded......Indonesia has for the past year refused to share samples from its human H5N1 influenza victims with the network, saying those viruses are its own property and demanding guarantees that it will get the benefits--such as pandemic vaccines--that sharing can help produce. Other developing countries, such as Egypt, Nigeria, Vietnam, and Thailand, have stopped short of boycotting GISN but sympathize with Indonesia."

Comment: Certainly Indonesia and other countries should share data on flu, including data on the genetics of the flu strains that are occurring in their populations. Certainly the countries that have the ability to develop and but flu vaccines and drugs should share them with poor countries that do not have that capacity. The question is whether poor countries, that for good reason distrust the willingness of rich countries to share vaccines and drugs with the needy, should withhold their data until credible guarantees are provided by the rich countries. Why do the rich countries resist giving those guarantees? JAD