JAKARTA: Indonesia has stopped sending human bird flu samples to laboratories overseas ahead of a vaccine agreement with a US-based manufacturer of medical products, health ministry officials said on Tuesday.

The country, which has suffered the largest number of human deaths due to bird flu in the world, has previously shared samples of infected human tissue with various laboratories as part of research efforts on the disease.

But that process has now been halted ahead of the announcement on Wednesday of a deal with Baxter International Inc., the officials said.

"Yes, we have temporarily halted the sending of such samples," said Endang from the health ministry's Research and Development Board.

She declined to give a reason but said the ministry was scheduled to give a news conference on the issue on Wednesday.

Health ministry spokeswoman Lily Sulistyawati said that it would announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Baxter.

Sulistyawati said the agreement was on the production of a vaccine against the H5N1 virus – the deadliest strain of avian influenza – but declined to give further details.

Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said the decision to stop sending samples was perfectly legal.

"Viruses that are sent out of the country have to come with an MTA and this is in line with the laws in our country," Supari said in a short text message reply to AFP, referring to a protocol known as a Material Transfer Agreement.

She did not elaborate.

Under an MTA, Endang said, a recipient agrees to specific constraints such as not to share the sample with others or use it for commercial purposes.

I Nyoman Kandun, the director general for contagious disease control at the health ministry, said it was the minister's decision not to allow the spending of specimens containing the live virus without such an agreement.

"What the minister does not allow is that live viruses are taken out of the country before the agreement (over the transfer) is clear," Kandun told AFP.

At least 160 people have died worldwide from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, mostly in Southeast Asia, since late 2003.

In Indonesia, the disease has killed 63 people since June 2005 when it was discovered in humans for the first time in the country.

Another 18 contracted the virus but are still alive.

Scientists fear the strain could mutate into a version that would transmit more easily from human to human, triggering a global pandemic. - AFP/so