By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, May 9 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation called on Friday for more collaborative research into the bird flu virus, which it said could help reduce death and illness in a human influenza pandemic. Current international research is highly competitive and the results of studies are often held back pending publication, which could delay their usefulness in a public health emergency, WHO officials said. Keiji Fukuda, coordinator of WHO's global influenza programme, said that more sharing of research was required, as happened informally between experts during the deadly SARS epidemic in 2003 which spread from southern China to Canada. "In developing a WHO public health research agenda (on influenza) we are trying to push for a paradigm change," Fukuda told the final session of a four-day WHO meeting on bird flu. "What we hope to improve is the kind of sharing and flow of information and take it to another level," he said. Some 150 experts from 30 countries took part in the meeting to update WHO's guidance to countries on how to boost their defences against a deadly global epidemic. The United Nations agency plans to issue new advice by year-end, officials said. The H5N1 avian flu virus has infected flocks in much of Asia, Africa and some parts of Europe. Experts fear it could mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking an influenza pandemic that could kill millions. FUNDING Most research is driven by individual researchers but depends on the source of funding, so there is also a need to sensitise donors about priorities, according to Fukuda. "It is really quite secretive until the information is published. It is like a poker game," he told Reuters. "SARS showed we can develop a collaborative network to get people who are normally competitors sharing information because of a public health need," he said. SARS was brought under control after killing close to 800 people out of 8,000 known to have been infected. The avian flu virus rarely infects people, but there have been 382 human cases worldwide since 2003, including 241 deaths, according to the WHO. Gathering evidence on bird flu through clinical trials and molecular research is vital, according to Frederick Hayden, a medical officer in WHO's global influenza programme. "There are a number of key issues where there is insufficiency of evidence to make firm policy," he said. More research was needed into "genetic risk factors which seem to be real now" for some people becoming infected with the bird flu virus while others aren't, Hayden said. Other areas ripe for in-depth research include the role of asymptomatic people -- who have no signs of the disease -- in spreading the virus, he said. "By building the capacity to research we enhance the ability to deal not only with influenza but with other emerging infectious disease threats in time," Hayden said.
A doctor examines a child for signs of infection from hand, foot and mouth disease at a hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong province May 9, 2008. A strain of hand, foot and ...
