Why scientists are concerned about leaks at biolabs

Yahoo – AFP, Issam Ahmed, Lucie Aubourg and Paul Handley, May 30, 2021

This general view shows the Wuhan Institute of Virplogy in Wuhan,
in China's central Hubei province

The theory that Covid-19 might be the result of scientific experiments has thrown a spotlight on the work of the world's most secure biolabs. 

While the evidence linking SARS-CoV-2 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China is strictly circumstantial, a number of experts want tougher controls on such facilities over fears that accidental leaks could touch off the next pandemic. 

Here's what you should know. 

59 top facilities 

The Wuhan lab belongs to the most secure class, commonly referred to as biosafety level 4, or BSL4. 

These are built to work safely and securely with the most dangerous bacteria and viruses that can cause serious diseases for which there are no known treatment or vaccines. 

"There are HVAC filtration systems, so that the virus can't escape through exhaust; any waste water that leaves the facility is treated with either chemicals or high temperatures to make sure that there's nothing alive," Gregory Koblentz, director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University, told AFP. 

The researchers themselves are highly trained and wear hazmat suits. 

There are 59 such facilities across the world, according to a report Koblentz co-authored that was released this week. 

"There are no binding international standards for safe, secure, and responsible work on pathogens," the report, called Mapping Maximum Biological Containment Labs Globally, said. 

Accidents do happen 

Accidents can happen, sometimes at the top tier facilities, and much more frequently at lower rung labs of which there are thousands. 

Human H1N1 virus -- the same flu that caused the 1918 pandemic -- leaked in 1977 in the Soviet Union and China and spread worldwide. 

In 2001, a mentally disturbed employee at a US biolab mailed out anthrax spores across the country, killing five people. 

Two Chinese researchers exposed to SARS in 2004 spread the disease to others, killing one. 

In 2014, a handful of smallpox vials were uncovered during an Food and Drug Administration office move. 

Lynn Klotz, a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, has been sounding the alarm for many years about the public safety threats posed by such facilities. 

"Human errors constitute over 70 percent of the errors in laboratories," he told AFP, adding that US researchers have to rely on data from Freedom of Information requests to learn of these incidents. 

'Gain of function' controversy 

There is disagreement between the US government, which funded bat coronavirus research in Wuhan, and some independent scientists, about whether this work was controversial "gain of function" (GOF) research. 

GOF research entails modifying pathogens to make them more transmissible, deadlier, or better able to evade treatment and vaccines -- all to learn how to fight them better. 

This field has long been contentious. Debate reached a fever pitch when two research teams in 2011 showed they could make bird flu transmissible between mammals. 

Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch told AFP he was concerned "that it would create a strain of virus that if it infected a laboratory worker could not just kill that laboratory worker... but also cause a pandemic." 

"The research is not required and does not contribute to the development of drugs or vaccines," added molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University, one of the staunchest opponents of this kind of research. 

In 2014 the US government announced a pause in federal funding for such work, which gave way in 2017 to a framework that would consider each application on a case-by-case basis. 

But the process has been criticized as lacking transparency and credibility. 

As late as last year, a nonprofit received funding from the US on research to "predict spillover potential" of bat coronavirus to humans in Wuhan. 

Questioned by Congress this week, Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health denied this amounted to gain of function research, but Ebright said it clearly does. 

The path ahead 

None of this means that Covid-19 definitely leaked from a lab -- in fact there is no hard scientific evidence in favor of natural origin or lab accident scenario, said Ebright. 

But there are certain lines of circumstantial evidence in favor of the latter. For instance, Wuhan is around 1,000 miles north of bat caves that harbor the ancestor virus, well out of the animals' flight range. 

Scientists from Wuhan were however known to be carrying out routine trips to those caves to take samples. 

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist from the Broad Institute, said there were no signs of risky pathogen research dying down in the wake of the pandemic -- in fact "it's possibly expanded." 

Last year, Chan published research showing that, unlike SARS, SARS-CoV-2 was not evolving fast when it was first detected in humans -- another piece of circumstantial evidence that could point to lab origin. 

Chan considers herself a "fence-sitter" on the competing hypotheses, but does not favor banning risky research, fearing it would then go underground. 

One solution "might just be as simple as moving these research institutes out into extremely remote areas...where you have to quarantine for two weeks before we re-enter in human society," she said.

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Facebook reverses course, won't ban lab virus theory

Yahoo – AFP, Rob Lever, May 27, 2021 

Facebook reversal of a ban on suggesting Covid-19 was man-made comes amid
renewed debate on the origins of the virus

Facebook has reversed its policy banning posts suggesting Covid-19 emerged from a laboratory amid renewed debate over the origins of the virus, raising fresh questions about social media's role in policing misinformation. 

The latest move by Facebook, announced late Wednesday on its website, highlights the challenge for the world's largest social network of rooting out false and potentially harmful content while remaining open for discourse. 

"In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of Covid-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 is man-made or manufactured from our apps," the statement said. 

"We're continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge." 

The new statement updates guidance from Facebook in February when it said it would remove false or debunked claims about the novel coronavirus which created a global pandemic killing more than three million. 

The move followed President Joe Biden's directive to US intelligence agencies to investigate competing theories on how the virus first emerged -- through animal contact at a market in Wuhan, China, or through accidental release from a research laboratory in the same city. 

Biden's order signals an escalation in mounting controversy over the origins of the virus. 

The natural origin hypothesis holds that it emerged in bats then passed to humans, likely via an intermediary species. 

This theory was widely accepted at the start of the pandemic, but as time has worn on, scientists have not found a virus in either bats or another animal that matches the genetic signature of SARS-CoV-2. 

The lab-leak theory, meanwhile, is gaining increasing traction in the United States, where it was initially fueled by former president Donald Trump and his aides and dismissed by many as a political talking point. 

A recent Wall Street Journal report, citing US intelligence findings, said three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick in November 2019, a month before Beijing disclosed the existence of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak. 

Facebook has updated previous guidance on removing false or debunked claims
about the novel coronavirus -- saying it will no longer remove the claim that
Covid-19 is man-made or manufactured.

Pushback from the right 

Facebook's move, which could impact what some three billion users of its family of apps see, highlights the controversy over social media's aggressive efforts to root out misinformation on topics where facts may be evolving. 

The reversal may be "another exhibit for the possibility that there will be a swing back against the more heavy-handed moderation," tweeted Evelyn Douek, a Harvard University lecturer and researcher of online speech regulation. 

"When the pandemic started, there were many arguments that 'what platforms are doing for health misinfo, they should do for all misinfo all the time.' It was over-simplified then, and strikes me as untenable now." 

Facebook uses independent third-party fact checkers, including AFP, to debunk misinformation. Although the origins of the virus remain unproven, the lab leak theory has been subject to fact-checking. 

One fact checking organization, PolitiFact, reported last September that public health authorities had "repeatedly said the coronavirus was not derived from a lab" but earlier this month revised its guidance, noting: "that assertion is now more widely disputed," and saying it would continue to review the matter. 

The abrupt Facebook reversal prompted angry responses from conservatives and Trump supporters. 

"Wow! But they did suppress the story for a year, defaming Trump and Republicans for a 'conspiracy theory' blacklisting conservative press and banning us," tweeted Kelly Sadler, a blogger and former Trump aide. 

But Rebekah Tromble, director of Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics at George Washington University, said Facebook "is doing the right thing" by updating its guidance. 

"Information changes over time, and responsible organizations -- social media outlets and fact-checkers alike -- make decisions based on the best information available but remain open and willing to change their evaluations as new information arises," Tromble told AFP. 

"Facebook will undoubtedly receive blowback for this decision, as will fact-checkers. But that blowback will come from the same people and groups that have always been critical." 

Facebook in a separate statement said it was stepping up its efforts to curb misinformation by limiting the reach of users who "repeatedly" share false content. 

Until now, Facebook had only taken this action on individual posts, but now will clamp down on the users who are the largest spreaders of false content.

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Wuhan lab had three live bat coronaviruses: Chinese state media

Yahoo – AFP, May 24, 2020

The director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology told a Chinese state broadcaster
that the lab has three live strains of bat coronavirus on-site, but that claims the
coronavirus could have leaked from the facility were 'pure fabrication' (AFP Photo/
Hector RETAMAL)

The Chinese virology institute at the centre of US allegations it may have been the source of the COVID-19 pandemic has three live strains of bat coronavirus on-site, but none match the new global contagion, its director has said.

Scientists think COVID-19 -- which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has killed more than 340,000 people worldwide -- originated in bats and could have been transmitted to people via another mammal.

But the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology told state broadcaster CGTN that claims made by US President Donald Trump and others the virus could have leaked from the facility were "pure fabrication".

In the interview filmed on May 13 but broadcast Saturday night, Wang Yanyi said the centre has "isolated and obtained some coronaviruses from bats".

"Now we have three strains of live viruses... But their highest similarity to SARS-CoV-2 only reaches 79.8 percent," she said, referring to the coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19.

One of their research teams, led by Professor Shi Zhengli, has been researching bat coronaviruses since 2004 and focused on the "source tracing of SARS", the strain behind another virus outbreak nearly two decades ago.

"We know that the whole genome of SARS-CoV-2 is only 80 percent similar to that of SARS. It's an obvious difference," she said.

"So, in Professor Shi's past research, they didn't pay attention to such viruses which are less similar to the SARS virus."

Plans for more labs

Conspiracy rumours that the biosafety lab was involved in the outbreak swirled online for months before Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the theory into the mainstream by claiming that there is evidence the pathogen came from the institute.

The United States and Australia have called in recent weeks for an investigation into the origins of the pandemic.

Chinese scientists have said that the virus first emerged at a market selling live animals in Wuhan, though officials in Beijing more recently cast doubt about its origins.

Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday blasted what he called efforts by US politicians to "fabricate rumours" about the pathogen's origins and "stigmatise China".

He said China would be "open" to international cooperation to identify the source of the novel coronavirus, as long as any investigation is "free of political interference".

The World Health Organization has said Washington offered no evidence to support the "speculative" claims about the Wuhan lab.

The Wuhan lab has said it received samples of the then-unknown virus on December 30, determined the viral genome sequence on January 2 and submitted information on the pathogen to the WHO on January 11.

Wang Yanyi said in the interview that before it received samples in December, their team had never "encountered, researched or kept the virus".

"In fact, like everyone else, we didn't even know the virus existed," she said. "How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?"

At a press conference Sunday, Zhao Chenxin, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said every Chinese prefecture must have its own P3 laboratory to ramp up preparations against infectious diseases.

Apart from the P3 lab plans -- the second-highest biosafety classification for labs handling pathogens -- Zhao said each city should also have a lower-level P2 laboratory so they could "quickly respond in a major epidemic".

The Wuhan institute has both P3 and P4 labs.

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Roche urged to share info with Dutch corona test labs: FTM

DutchNews, March 26, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche is unable to meet demand for coronavirus testing kits but is unwilling to share key information with labs to help them carry out mass testing, Dutch investigative website FollowThe Money said on Thursday. 

Most Dutch testing labs work with Roche equipment and depend on the Swiss firm for supplies. And due to special deals known as a ‘vendor lock-in’ they are not able to turn to alternative sources to stock up on essential items, FTM says. 

The Volkskrant reported earlier that most Dutch labs use Roche testing equipment and that the shortage of lysis buffer – a liquid used to break open cells – is one reason why the Netherlands is not carrying out mass testing. 

According to broadcaster NOS, Roche has 80% of the Dutch market. 

Commitment 

Roche told DutchNews.nl is a statement that it is committed to delivering as many tests as possible to areas where they can be most effective. However, to safeguard supply, the company said it strongly advised focusing testing on patients with symptoms, not with broad testing. 

‘Today, media in the Netherlands reported that Roche Netherlands is not providing enough test material to laboratories and asked Roche to publish the recipe for one reagent, called lysis buffer solution. We clearly state that this story is wrong,’ Roche said. 

‘There is no patent protection on lysis buffer itself. Roche will not guarantee safety and reliability of the quality and test results if the reagents required for the test are manufactured outside our own production network as well as those qualified production sites we are already working with. Safety and reliability of our components have been approved by regulatory authorities.’ 

Talks 

Meanwhile, health minister Hugo de Jonge has told parliament he is in talks with Roche about the recipe for making the liquid so that Dutch pharmacies can make it themselves and expand testing in the Netherlands. 

‘Talks are underway. We are doing all we can to get the formula,’ he said. 

The government has appointed Feike Sijbesma, the former chief executive of DSM, as its corona test expert. Sijbesma will focus on assessing and the availability of tests on the market and those being developed.

What the new coronavirus measures in the Netherlands mean for you

DutchNews, March 13, 2020 

Empty shelves in a Dutch supermarket. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

The Dutch government on Thursday announced new nationwide measures to try to contain the coronavirus epidemic in the Netherlands. Here’s what you need to know. 

Social contacts

• If you have a cold, a cough, sore throat or a fever stay home. Avoid contact with others. Only call your doctor if your symptoms get worse. 
• Gatherings of more than 100 people have been cancelled. This includes public places such as museums, concerts, theatres, professional and amateur sports events and matches. 
• Churches and mosques are also cancelling their services 
• There are currently no restrictions on visiting a cafe or restaurant, as long as you do not have any symptoms 
• Work from home if possible or stagger your working times. 
• Try to avoid close contact with the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. 
• In particular, elderly people and those with weakened immune systems are asked to avoid large gatherings and public transport. 
• Healthcare workers are being asked to stay home only if they have symptoms including a fever. They are also being asked not to travel abroad. 

Education

• Universities and hbo colleges have been requested to offer online lectures and the university and college associations have said they will stop all physical forms of education for the time being, including exams. 
• Children who have a cold, cough or fever should stay at home. 
• Primary schools, secondary schools, secondary vocational schools (MBO) and childcare centres will remain open as usual. This, the government says, is because children and young people are not high-risk groups and closing schools would have a major impact on society without contributing significantly to reducing the spread of coronavirus. 

The measures apply up to and including March 31. 

Hygiene 

The Dutch public health institute RIVM and World Health Organisation say everyone should follow these instructions to prevent infection: 

• Avoid shaking hands and physical contact 
• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap or alcohol rub 
• Sneeze into a tissue or  your elbow 
• Use paper tissues and dispose of them immediately 
• Stay away at least one metre away from people who are sneezing or coughing 
• Avoid touching your face with your hands, which may have picked up the virus 

The RIVM says face masks should only be worn by medical staff. Most of the paper masks used by the general public are worthless and offer a false sense of security, officials say. 

Coronavirus in the Netherlands, the questionsyou want answered 

Tests 

Tests for coronavirus can only be requested via the local health board or a hospital and it takes around 24 hours for the test results to come through. 

Testing is currently only being carried out on people who have worsening symptoms and have been in an at risk area or in contact with people who have coronavirus. 

The RIVM has an interactive map showing where corona infections are being confirmed. 

Can I still go on holiday? 

The Dutch foreign affairs ministry has up-to-date advice on foreign travel and has set up a red to green coding system for coronavirus. Currently China, Iran and Italy should be avoided for all but essential travel. The Dutch government website has more information in English. 

The US has imposed a travel ban on all incoming flights from the EU from Saturday. 

Official information sources in English 

Dutch public health institute RIVM 
Dutch government website 
The government has also published flyers in a variety of languages about the recommended hygiene measures.

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Bacteria from bees possible alternative to antibiotics

Lund University, 08/09/2014

13 lactic acid bacteria found in the honey stomach of bees have shown promising results in a series of studies at Lund University in Sweden.

• The group of bacteria counteracted antibiotic-resistant MRSA in lab experiments
• The bacteria, mixed into honey, has healed horses with persistent wounds
• The formula has previously been shown to protect against bee colony collapse

WATCH: Could bacteria from bees replace antibiotics?

Raw honey has been used against infections for millennia, before honey - as we now know it - was manufactured and sold in stores. So what is the key to its’ antimicrobial properties? Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have identified a unique group of 13 lactic acid bacteria found in fresh honey, from the honey stomach of bees. The bacteria produce a myriad of active antimicrobial compounds.

These lactic acid bacteria have now been tested on severe human wound pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), among others. When the lactic acid bacteria were applied to the pathogens in the laboratory, it counteracted all of them.

While the effect on human bacteria has only been tested in a lab environment thus far, the lactic acid bacteria has been applied directly to horses with persistent wounds. The LAB was mixed with honey and applied to ten horses; where the owners had tried several other methods to no avail. All of the horses' wounds were healed by the mixture.

The researchers believe the secret to the strong results lie in the broad spectrum of active substances involved.

"Antibiotics are mostly one active substance, effective against only a narrow spectrum of bacteria. When used alive, these 13 lactic acid bacteria produce the right kind of antimicrobial compounds as needed, depending on the threat. It seems to have worked well for millions of years of protecting bees' health and honey against other harmful microorganisms. However, since store-bought honey doesn't contain the living lactic acid bacteria, many of its unique properties have been lost in recent times", explains Tobias Olofsson.

The next step is further studies to investigate wider clinical use against topical human infections as well as on animals.

The findings have implications for developing countries, where fresh honey is easily available, but also for Western countries where antibiotic resistance is seriously increasing.

Publications:

Lactic acid bacterial symbionts in honeybees – an unknown key to honey's antimicrobial andtherapeutic activities 

A pilot study investigating lactic acid bacterial symbionts from the honeybee ininhibiting human chronic wound pathogens

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Dutch hospital to launch 'one-day' cancer operation and results

DutchNews.nl, Friday 20 June 2014

(NOS/ANP)

Radboud University hospital in Nijmegen is to start offering people with some forms of cancer a 'one-day' service to remove tumors and assess if all the cancerous cells have been taken away from next year.

The hospital is building three specialised operating theatres for the new approach, which involve patients finding out on the day of their operation if all cancerous cells have been removed.

At the moment, it takes some two weeks after an operation to find out if a patient has the all-clear.

Follow up

This new approach will not only cut waiting times for patients but will reduce the number of people needing follow-up treatment, professor Hein Gooszen told newspaper Trouw.

At the moment some 20% to 30% of patients need radiation or chemotherapy, Gooszen said. 'By carrying out extra research immediately, we hope to reduce this to almost zero,' the professor told the paper.

The hospital will do this by using a micro-MRI scanner which allows pathologists to differentiate between good and bad cells.

Siemens

The equipment is extremely expensive but manufacturer Siemens is contributing to the cost of the project, the paper says.

The project will initially concentrate on prostate cancer, gynaecological cancers and cancers of the head and neck. If the new approach is successful, it will be expanded to cover breast and other cancers.

To ensure the new approach is working, cells will also be tested in a traditional laboratory after the operation.

'We want to be able to say after five years if this works,' Gooszen said. He believes the Nijmegen hospital is the first in the world to offer the one-day approach.

Blood inspection

The Jakarta Post, Mon, 01/18/2010 7:37 PM

Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) chief Jusuf Kalla observes blood supplies at a laboratory at the PMI South Sulawesi branch on Monday. Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said the PMI must not only be able to provide blood but also handle social problems. (JP/Andi Hajramurni)

Sido Muncul to Develop an Herbal Laboratory

Thursday, 12 November, 2009 

TEMPO Interactive, Semarang:Leading traditional herbal drink (jamu) company, Sido Muncul, is collaborating with Bandung’s Maranatha Christian University to develop an herbal laboratory to study the benefits of jamu products in a scientific way before being produced in large quantities. “Doctors are starting to see jamu as medication,” said Irwan Hidayat, the Sido Muncul CEO. 

Maranatha Christian University rector H.P. Septoratno Siregar said the studies have been carried out to answer the demands of the modern medical world, both local and international, concerning scientific proof of the benefits of traditional herbal drinks. “With scientific evidence, doctors, including those from overseas, will be willing to use jamu as medication,” Septoratno said following the MoU signing in Semarang yesterday.

SOHIRIN

Related Article:

Sido Muncul Riding a Herbal High

Indonesia, US discuss cooperation in bird flu management

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Visiting US Health and Human Service Minister Michael O Leavitt and his Indonesian counterpart Siti Fadilah Supari met at the presidential office here on Monday to discuss the continuation of bilateral cooperation in bird flu management.

"We meet to follow up on talks on bird flu management that we held in Geneva ten days ago," Siti Fadilah Supari said after the meeting.

She said the follow-up talks with the US health and human services minister were held to find a solution to the Materal Transfer Agreement (MTA) on the shipment of bird flu virus samples to the United States.

According to the Indonesian health affairs minister, almost all of Indonesia`s proposals on MTA were approved at the Geneva meeting although their formats were simplified.

The minister said developing countries including Indonesia wanted MTA to ensure transparency in the use of bird flu virus specimens, transfer of technology to produce bird flu vaccine, and equality in the right to access vaccines.

US Health and Human Service Minister Michael Leavitt was on a two-day visit in Indonesia starting Monday (April 14) to strengthen bilateral cooperation in health affairs, a US Embassy Embassy staffer Kresna Soegio said.

He said there was close cooperation between Indonesia and the United States in health affairs, especially in bird flu management.

According to US Embassy data, the US was through the USAID implementing a program to support Indonesia`s national strategy to control and promote preparedness to deal with the bird flu pandemic for the 2006-2008 period. The strategy provides for enlightenment campaigns for the public and private sectors in every sub district in Java, Bali, West Sumatra and Lampung.

Since 2005, the United States had provided Indonesia with US$42.85 million to fund bird flu control and prevention programs.

Bird flu as biological weapon "nutty" idea, says Gates

JAKARTA (JP): United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates has denied allegations by Indonesia's Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari that his country is developing biological weapons frombird flu strains found in Indonesia.

"I think it's the nuttiest idea I've ever heard," Gates said Monday after addressing his speech to the Indonesian Council on World Affairs at the Four Seasons Hotel, South Jakarta.

Siti's book, It's Time for the World to Change, Divine Hands Behind Bird Flu, alleges the U.S. and the World Health Organization are conspiring against developing countries by seizing control of bird flu samples.

The book says virus samples being sent to a laboratory in Los Alamos are under U.S military control.

After meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono at the State Palace, Gates said he did not discuss the issue with the President.

"I respectfully and strongly disagree with the minister, andit is not true that the United States offered military equipment if the book was withdrawn," he said in response to allegations that the U.S would provide military aid for Indonesia as long as the English version of the book was withdrawn.

Presidential spokesman Dino Pati Djalal said any claim the U.S designed the virus as a biological weapon was a personal view of the minister and not the President.

U.S State Department spokeswoman Susan Stahl recently denied Siti's claim.

Recently, Siti said she was pulling the English version of the book from distribution after less than a month, citing inaccurate translations as the main reason.

The book was launched on Feb. 6 and is a 182-page memoir recording Siti's struggle to change the allegedly unfair virus sample sharing.

She claimed the system was not transparent and did not accommodate the needs of developing nations.

The Indonesian government decided to stop sharing virus samples early last year following a perceived leakage in the GISNas vaccine makers in developed countries could obtain samples sent by Indonesia to produce bird flu vaccines.

However, the government resumed sharing last week and sent 12 samples to the Center for Disease Control and Protection in Atlanta, Georgia. (anw/dsy)

Indonesia resumes sharing bird flu samples

Radio Netherlands

Published: Friday 22 February 2008 09:59 UTC

Jakarta - A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO) says Indonesia sent 12 bird flu samples to a WHO laboratory this week for the first time since August 2007. Jakarta stopped sharing its virus samples in December 2006 as it feared that they would be used to make vaccines that poor countries could not afford. Indonesia has not said what prompted the change in policy.

Last August, Indonesia did send two samples to the WHO to prove that the virus had not mutated after the organisation accused Jakarta of endangering world health by failing to share its samples. The WHO also said Indonesia was endangering its own population as any vaccine developed would not contain components of the variant prevalent in the country.

Bird flu is endemic in Indonesia and the country has been hardest hit by the H5N1 variant, which has a mortality rate in humans of more than 60 percent. So far, 105 Indonesians have died after being infected with H5N1, 11 of them this year alone. At present H5N1 is not easily transmissible between humans but scientists fear it could mutate into a transmissible form and spark a global pandemic and kill millions of people.

Some 165 people hospitalized

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

At least 165 people were admitted to hospitals and clinics with suspected food poisoning in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Saturday after eating together at a neighbor's home after prayers.

Dozens were still being medically treated on Sunday.

The victims said they were poisoned "after eating at Yuddon's house" -- one of their neighbors, on Jalan Abubakar in Lambogo, Makassar.

Head of Makassar Health Agency Naisyah Tun Azikin said 165 people had received treated across 10 hospitals and clinics in Makassar and nearby Takalar regency.

"Initially the victims were treated at Bara-Baraya clinic, but were then transferred to hospitals to get better and more intensive treatment," Naisyah said.

More than 50 people were treated at Labuang Baji hospital. Others were admitted to hospitals including Wahidin Sudirohusodo, Faisal, Ibnu Sina, Stella Maris and Bhayangkara, Naisyah said.

Some patients admitted to Labuan Baji hospital received treatment while they waited in corridors due to the limited number of rooms at the hospital, she said.

All the patients reportedly suffered similar symptoms including dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach aches.

"At first, I just thought I was a little dizzy, but after vomiting several times, I suspected I was being poisoned," Samaria, one of the victims, said.

Naisyah said she believed meals offered at the prayer meeting contained a poisonous substance.

She said her office had sent samples to the forensic laboratory of South Sulawesi Police Office and to the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency for analysis.

West Makassar Police said they had questioned Yuddin and his wife, Rahmatia, and the chef about the food they served during the event.

The police had yet to determine any suspects in the case.

"We just asked them several questions in connection with the incident," head of the West Makassar police criminal unit, Adj. Comr. Ronald Sumigar said.

"Now, we are waiting for the result of investigations and examination from the forensic laboratory and the agency," he said.