
China Has Withheld Samples of a Dangerous Flu Virus - tonyztan
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/health/china-flu-virus-samples.html
======
rrggrr
An argument can be made that China is violating the International Biological
and Toxin Weapons Convention. By withholding the samples they are at least
constructively stockpiling a lethal pathogen; with full knowledge this action
can (and likely will) result in the loss of many lives. The appropriate
response is to announce travel restrictions on all travelers originating from
China, effective in 30 days. I expect that announcement will dislodge the
samples quickly, assuming the present media coverage doesn't already do so.

UPDATE: The virus can (may not necessarily) have a 40% mortality rate says the
article below. One would therefore expect the US will obtain samples by other
means. At a minimum birds don't recognize borders.

[https://www.livescience.com/63448-china-h7n9-flu-samples-
pan...](https://www.livescience.com/63448-china-h7n9-flu-samples-pandemic-
prevention.html)

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _One would therefore expect the US will obtain samples by other means_

From the article:

”At least four research institutions have relied upon a small group of H7N9
samples from cases in Taiwan and Hong Kong. (All four asked not to be
identified for fear of further straining ties.)”

That said, a travel ban on travelers originating from or having recently been
to China is too harsh. Mandatory quarantines (with the costs of such
quarantine being the responsibility of the traveler) would be more prudent.

~~~
SolarNet
I think the travel ban is meant to be punitive as much as it is a quarantine.
I think the way the OP was suggesting it was travel restrictions to or from a
country refusing to cooperate with treaties. Implemented in 30 days, not
anyone who has traveled to China within 30 days.

~~~
rrggrr
@SolarNet ... correct.

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tomkinstinch
They may be withholding physical samples, but some sequence data appears to
have been released[1(eight segments of the virus from one patient),2(sequences
from the last ten years)]. Sequence data like this is helpful for genomic
epidemiology—modeling how the virus evolves over time and across geographic
regions, as well as for investigating the potential functional impact of
mutations.

1\.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term=Influenza+A+virus...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term=Influenza+A+virus+\(A%2FGuangdong%2FGZ8H001%2F2017\(H7N9\)))

2\.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term=(%22H7N9%20subtyp...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term=\(%22H7N9%20subtype%22\[Organism\]%20OR%20H7N9\[All%20Fields\]\)%20AND%20\(viruses\[filter\]%20AND%20\(%22700%22\[SLEN\]%20:%20%2210000%22\[SLEN\]\)%20AND%20\(%222008/01/01%22\[PDAT\]%20:%20%222018/12/31%22\[PDAT\]\)))

~~~
vedtopkar
It should be noted that the influenza virus has 8 segments, so those 8
released segments from a patient represent the entire flu genome.

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siruncledrew
Health should be separate from commerce. It's messed up to refuse to exchange
scientific information that could save a lot of lives to get more bargaining
power, but it's also messed up if some entity takes that information and
internationally patents a vaccine so they could sell it for ungodly high
prices.

~~~
defnotarobot
Does the timing even make sense for attributing the delay to trade tensions?
If theyve delayed for more than a year, those tensions were not at their
present level a year ago.

~~~
emodendroket
The article says that scientists fear that trade tensions will worsen the
problem, not that the problem sprang up out of the ether a couple of months
ago.

~~~
pishpash
The problem that sprang up out of the ether is the trade war and the
subsequent very blatant propaganda war. Note that I'm not saying there is no
problem here, but the fact that the story lay dormant and pops up now is not a
coincidence. At the very least some NY Times editors thought it was relevant
and opportune to shout into the echo chamber right this moment (and the same
here, for posting it).

~~~
emodendroket
There's a link to an older story about the same topic right at the bottom of
the page.

------
azurezyq
While I'm not sure why Chinese government is not sharing the virus, I really
don't like the way the article is written.

The entire article is about guessing the reasons and developing a conspiracy
(even the relation to trade war). No response so far from the official channel
of Chinese government.

Also for this section:

>> The Chinese government has refused to share clinical data from infected
patients, according to scientists[1], and claims to have all but eradicated
H7N9 through a single poultry vaccination campaign.

[1]: Citation needed.

~~~
Krasnol
The only conspiracy here is, that you can be sure to find someone downplaying
the issue every time something regarding China comes up here.

~~~
throwahate1231
I am posting anonymously here because of all the toxicity of this comment.
Take away "Chinese" from his argument and he still has an argument. Your
comment on the other hand, is just throwing your emotions around. I suspect
other commenters downvote him for the same reason. I find this every time an
article about China comes up. Its infuriating because there is not legitimate
discussion going on. It simply a downvoting war.

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amaccuish
> At least four research institutions have relied upon a small group of H7N9
> samples from cases in Taiwan and Hong Kong

So why can't Taiwan send a sample?

>The Office of the United States Trade Representative in April released a
proposed list of products to be targeted for tariffs — including
pharmaceutical products such as vaccines, medicines and medical devices.

Well then, what did you expect? That China do nothing?

------
singularity2001
> … plastic drip mechanisms … there are no stockpiles

why not?

~~~
m1573rp34130dy
stockpiles are not required if you have the RNA sequences of the virus... to
make matters worse influenza is understood to the extent that any sophomore
bio undergrad has the knowledge to create a nasty version, _whether they know
it or not_...the big hurdle is the equipment which is not intrinsically
expensive to build, and the biochemical reagents required e.g. restriction
enzymes...

