Fast diagnostic test developed for bird flu

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Scientists in Hong Kong and China said on Wednesday they have developed a rapid test to detect bird flu infections in humans, which could give health officials an important tool for controlling the killer virus.

The new rapid diagnostic kits can confirm H5N1 infections in people or animals within two hours, scientists from China’s Shantou University and Xiamen University and the University of Hong Kong told a news conference.

Previous tests used to take three to five days and sometimes more than a week.

The new tests are also the first ever for the H5N1 virus that can be done outside of the laboratory and used at the sites of an outbreak, such as in animal markets, farms, hospitals or even in homes, the scientists said.

“These techniques are convenient, rapid, and are easy for non-specialists to use,” said Guan Yi, a professor at the University of Hong Kong who led the research team.

“Its accuracy is about 90 percent,” he added.

H5N1 bird flu first broke out in humans in Hong Kong in 1997, infecting 18 people and killing six of them. Studies in Hong Kong and mainland China suggest that H5N1 virus is endemic in poultry in this region.

“The virus is still here, even right now,” Guan said.

Among the countries worst hit by bird flu this year are Thailand, where the virus has killed at least 12 people, and Vietnam, where 20 have died.

A World Health Organization expert warned last month that the H5N1 virus is most likely to cause the next human flu pandemic. Experts fear a repetition of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic thought to have killed more than 20 million people.

Three of four flu pandemics in the last century originated in southern China.

The new diagnostic kits can detect the virus or antibodies for the virus in nasal or throat secretions, feces and blood serum.

Guan said early control of the virus was especially important in the absence of a vaccine for H5N1.

Two U.S. firms are working on a vaccine, but neither is likely to have one ready until March, well after the cooler Asian season in which bird flu thrives best.

So far, the H5N1 virus has infected humans in close contact with infected birds but managed to move from person to person only after close and prolonged contact. But health experts fear it could mutate into a form that would sweep through the human population with no immunity.

Guan said the team would revise the kits if the virus mutated.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley told Reuters from Manila that the U.N. body had not been involved in the latest project, and that he could make no immediate comment on the new test.

The first test kits were made available to Chinese provincial authorities at the end of last month.

“We’ll do our best to make it available (commercially) as soon as possible,” Guan said.

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