China bird flu cases investigated by WHO

The request, from the WHO's representative in China, was submitted Thursday, the day the report was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A spokesperson for WHO's Beijing office said the organization had to wait until the journal was published before it could formally ask for answers and a meeting. But WHO staff in Beijing began making informal inquiries a couple of days ago, when tipped to the pending publication by journalists.

"The Chinese government has indeed taken notice of this story," Roy Wadia said from Beijing.

"And what we're told is that they're making their internal inquiries and will get back to us as soon as possible. And so we are awaiting a formal answer from them."