Improved test can detect avian or seasonal flu
Date: 21.9.2006
An updated diagnostic test can simultaneously detect whether someone is suffering from an H5 strain of bird flu or seasonal influenza, its developer said on Tuesday.
The improved version eliminates the need for two tests, requires only one sample and can provide a diagnosis quickly.
"It is more efficient in that you can screen for H5 and also identify seasonal flu A and B," Dr Martin Curran, of Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) who devised the test, said in an interview.
Curran presented the improved test at the annual meeting of the HPA at the University of Warwick in central England. The HPA monitors infectious diseases in Britain.
He said timing would be vital in dealing with an outbreak of suspected bird flu.
"It is important that people are treated very quickly and that any contacts are treated as well. You need the results within 24 hours for Tamiflu to be effective," he said, referring to Swiss drug maker Roche's antiviral drug.
The updated test will be available in all HPA laboratories as part of its screening for H5 bird flu in the upcoming flu season which begins in October in Britain.
It was used in a recent outbreak of avian flu in Norfolk, in eastern England, where a poultry worker suffered from an eye infection caused by an avian virus.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 143 people since 2003, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Some 200 million birds have died or been culled.
It is still an animal virus but scientists fear it could mutate into a pandemic strain that would be highly infectious in humans.
"Although the risk of someone returning to the UK with H5 is quite small, it is crucial that we have tests available in case we do see a suspected case," said Curran.
Professor Pat Troop, the chief executive of the HPA, said the ability to test for both seasonal and H5 bird flu simultaneously is very reassuring.
"Most people tested for flu-like symptoms will be suffering from regular seasonal flu. However, if the pandemic alert levels were to change or we had an outbreak of avian flu in the UK, it's vital that we have the capacity to respond as effectively as possible," she said in a statement.
"Source":[ http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-09-11T232659Z_01_L11615083_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-BIRDFLU-TEST-DC.XML]
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