Nano device provides quick test for bird flu

A team of scientists from Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have come up with a new test which can quickly detect the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

{IMAGE}They have created a hand-held device which is able to isolate, purify and amplify the viral DNA from throat swab samples and identify the H5N1 bird flu virus within 30 minutes.

The H5N1 virus which is highly contagious to birds has to date killed 200 people worldwide since 2003 and resulted in the deaths of millions of birds.

The scientists hope the kit could make it much easier to contain any outbreak as other tests currently used take a minimum of several hours to produce results.

They say the test has the advantage of being able to be administered at the infection site or at transport centres and is "equally sensitive, 440% faster and 2,000-5,000% cheaper than commercially available tests".

The scientists say the virtual 'mini-lab' will be especially useful where basic health resources are poor.

A prototype has apparently delivered accurate results within 28 minutes when tested on samples of the H5N1 virus.

Although the virus is highly contagious to birds experts say the disease at present cannot easily jump species.

But it has always been a concern that the virus will ultimately mutate into a form which has that ability and become a virus that can be transmitted from human to human.

The researchers say there is the assumption that a timely mass administration of antiviral drugs along with quarantines and social distancing, could contain an influenza epidemic at its source provided that the first clusters of cases are localized within a short time.

They suggest that such effective routine surveillance may be impossible in countries lacking basic public health resources and for a global containment strategy to be successful, in such a scenario low-cost, easy-to-use handheld units that permit decentralized testing could well be vital.

The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine.