Miniature lab can detect deadly bird flu virus in 30 minutes

Monday, 24 September 2007

Scientists in Singapore say they have devised a mini-lab capable of identifying the H5N1 bird flu virus in less than 30 minutes, in what they believe could be a breakthrough in efforts to shore up defences against any flu pandemic. Other commercially available tests take from several hours to a matter of days to deliver results and are many times more expensive, the inventors report. One of the big tasks in a putative pandemic of bird flu would be to identify and isolate infected people to stop them spreading the virus to others. Compared to commercially available tests, which take a long time to isolate the virus and typically use antigens to get a telltale response, this technique "is equally sensitive and is 440 percent faster and 2,000-5,000 percent cheaper," the paper says. The prototype has delivered accurate results within 28 minutes when tested on samples of highly pathogenic H5N1 virus.

 

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