OIE/FAO Network of Expertise on Animal Influenza

• To share and offer technical advice, training, and veterinary expertise to international organisations and Member Countries to assist in the prevention, diagnosis, surveillance and control of animal influenza. • To exchange scientific data and biological materials (including virus strains) within the network, to analyse such data, and to share such information with the wider scientific community. • To collaborate with the WHO on issues relating to the animal-human interface, including pandemic preparedness for early preparation of the human vaccine. • To highlight influenza surveillance and research needs, promote their development, and ensure co-ordination. == Structure ==

The OFFLU network is managed by a steering committee who provide strategic direction, an Executive Committee who implement the decisions of the steering committee, a secretariat, and a dedicated OFFLU scientist. The network itself is made up of world leading scientists from a range of fields including virology, epidemiology, bioinformatics, vaccinology, and animal production. ==Origins==

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, characterisation, 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." ==References==