GENEVA, June 1 (Reuters) - China has shared the first human bird flu samples in more than a year, giving a boost to international efforts to track the deadly virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

The samples, taken from two people, were received on Thursday night at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, one of the WHO"e;s collaborating laboratories, it said.

"They arrived last night at CDC," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters in Geneva. "We welcome it, it shows China is working with the international system of virus sharing."