http://gisaid.org/
I came across GISAID while researching the World Health Organization's (WHO) Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan (see http://wikileaks.org/leak/avian-flu-chair-text-2008.pdf).
GISAID stands for "Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data." It is a non-profit that was started in August of 2006 by a group of leading scientists and researchers, headed up by Dr. Nancy Cox, head of the Influenza Division at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Ilaria Capua, an Italian veterinary virologist who is a leading advocate of greater sharing of H5N1 genetic data.
GISAID "is the world's largest and most comprehensive influenza database." (See http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81678). GISAID aims to facilitate access to avian influenza research and vaccines through a publicly accessible online database that offers basic intellectual property rights to those who submit genetic information. The website says, "We have all pledged to share the data, to analyze the findings jointly, and to publish the results collaboratively, on the basis of open sharing of data respecting the rights and interests of all involved parties." As a result, GISAID has encouraged many countries including Indonesia, China, Russia, and others to start sharing information about their viruses again.
GISAID is currently frustrated with the WHO, claiming that the WHO is going to extreme lengths to withhold money from GISAID ($450,000 that the United States' CDC intended to go to GISAID). Furthermore, WHO is apparently asking for $10 million to start its own online database, which GISAID already has established free of charge. GISAID scientists do not understand the WHO secretariat's unwillingness to embrace them, after they have put much effort and time into the development of an effective and efficient avian influenza technology transfer database.
It will be interesting to see whether WHO embraces or at least acknowledges GISAID as it moves forward with the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness plan, as GISAID is not currently mentioned anywhere in the text.
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That's an interesting new resource. I guess there must be money involved in WHO's procrastination to acknowledge it or emrace it.
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