The Chinese government has been completely open about providing information on Chinese bird flu cases, said US National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni in Beijing Tuesday.

He noted that there was a stark contrast between China's openness about bird flu and its dealing with the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in China three years ago.

"China is definitely cooperative and transparent in controlling bird flu and is ready to exchange virus samples with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners so as to track the genetic changes of the virus," Zerhouni told a news conference.

"Tracking changes in samples from human cases is key to developing a vaccine," Zerhouni noted.

Now the United States and the Chinese Health and Agriculture Ministries are conducting cooperation to build the ability to detect and diagnose the virus and train experts, Zerhouni said.

"We are going to collaborate on multiple levels," he added.

China has announced six human cases of bird flu since Nov. 16, including at least two fatalities, according to the Ministry of Health.

Source: Xinhua