OIE/FAO Network of Expertise on Avian Influenza

OFFLU is the OIE/FAO Network of Expertise on Avian Influenza. "In April 2005, the OIE and FAO created and endorsed a joint network of expertise on Avian influenza for the benefit of Member Countries. The objectives of OFFLU are :
 * 1) To exchange scientific data and biological materials (including virus strains) within the network, and to share such information with the wider scientific community.
 * 2) To offer technical advice and veterinary expertise to Member Countries to assist in the diagnosis, surveillance and control of avian influenza.
 * 3) To collaborate with the WHO influenza network on issues relating to the animal-human interface.
 * 4) To highlight avian influenza research needs, promote their development and ensure co-ordination."

In February 2006, "OFFLU launched a campaign for openness when Dr. Ilaria Capua of Italy, chair of the network's Scientific Committee, published sequence data on H5N1 strains from Nigeria and Italy and urged 50 colleagues around the world to share their data. In March, the OFFLU Scientific Committee decided "to put new emphasis on the need for further collection, characterization, and exchange" of avian flu viruses and for expansion of sequence data, the FAO reported. At about the same time, Capua and four OFFLU colleagues wrote a letter to the journal Science promising to make H5N1 samples available for sequencing."