As if China's oh, no bird flu here, just a bit of violent sneezing, ignore that dead man on the stretcher thing wasn't bad enough, there's a new development in the story.

Someone posed as the scientist publishing the whistle-blowing paper to try to have it withdrawn from publication. Using an official email address.

As in, "Hi, New England Journal of Medicine? Yes, I'm that whistle-blowing fellow. Could I please have that whistle back? I'm afraid it was all a terrible misunderstanding. Yes, all a terrible, terrible mistake. No, really, it's me. I promise."

Or more like:

The New England Journal of Medicine which published details of the case (see Early human bird flu death uncovered in China) on 22 June, received emails apparently from the lead author, Wu-Chun Cao of the State Key Laboratory of Pathogens and Biosecurity in Beijing, asking that the paper be withdrawn. But now Cao has told the journal he never sent the emails.

“Wu-Chun Cao has reported to us by telephone and facsimile that emails that arrived at The New England Journal of Medicine earlier this week bearing his name were not sent by him,” said the journal’s editor, Jeffrey Drazen, in a statement. “He has not requested withdrawal of the report, and so it stands as published in the issue of June 22. We are continuing to investigate.”

The study reported details of the death of a 24-year-old from bird flu, which came months before China even admitted H5N1 was circulating in its poultry. The man was tested for respiratory illness because of concern in the wake of the SARS epidemic.

Scientists already knew there was some H5N1 in China in 2003. Two Hong Kong residents who fell ill in Fujian, China, that year were found to have the virus after returning to Hong Kong. But the case of the Beijing man raises questions about how many more Chinese cases there were.

ARGH!

ARRRGH!