Indonesia stopped sharing samples of H5N1 avian influenza because it wanted guarantees about access to vaccines and drugs.
With the help of Hulme-Beaman and others, they're sharing samples, analyzing thousands of bones, and trying to set aside years of bad blood and bruised egos.
In April 1998, Pfizer signed a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) with NIMH, the proper procedure for sharing samples with an outside research group.
In 2007, Indonesia triggered a crisis when it stopped sharing samples from people infected with the influenza strain H5N1, over concerns they would be used to develop pandemic vaccines that the country would not be able to afford.
In contrast to the countries hardest hit in the Ebola epidemic, Brazil's research infrastructure is able to do Zika gene sequencing and other analyses in-country, a WHO spokesperson says, meaning that sharing samples is a less critical issue.
However, their role was not explicitly stated in regard to sharing samples and/or data or on recontacting participants.
It wasn't, however, willing to share sample campaigns, because it said its client list is currently confidential.
But when they shared samples with friends, or tried out their new dishes on the public, it did not go well.
For much of the year, the World Health Organization was haggling with China and Indonesia over their unwillingness to share samples of the avian influenza, or bird flu, virus.
Ben Embarek says Korea has agreed to share samples with several labs working on MERS, including at Hong Kong University (HKU) in China and Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
