New test to detect bird flu 4 times faster

www.todayonline.com

Tan Hui Leng

ANOTHER made-in-Singapore bird flu detection device has been announced: Claimed as able to identify the deadly H5N1 strain in less than 30 minutes, or 440 per cent faster than other commercially available tests.

The device, conceived at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, can be used together with commercially available H5N1 kits.

"There is a difference between 'kits' and 'devices'," said research scientist Juergen Pipper, who headed the project. The invention was announced in the journal Nature Medicine.

"Kits contain biochemicals only (while) devices are hardware only. That means, kits alone are not enough; they have to be combined with devices to test for infectious diseases."

IBN's device works by testing genetic material obtained from a throat-swab of humans, and is described as a "lab-on-a-chip". Dr Pipper also said the device would be between "2,000 to 5,000 per cent cheaper" than commercially available kits.

Two other Singapore companies that has made news in the last few years for their rapid test kits include Veredus and Rockeby.

The significance of such products is that people can be screened quickly at points of outbreak and migratory checkpoints such as airports.

Endemic among poultry in the region, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected 328 humans worldwide, of whom 200 have died.

Health experts are worried that the virus would evolve into a strain that is transmissible from human to human, sparking a flu pandemic that would kill millions.

Beyond H5N1, the technique used in IBN's device can detect other viruses such as those causing Aids, Hepatitis B and Sars. It could take five to 10 years to commercialise the handheld device whose size and weight has been described as "comparable to that of a fine Japanese Fuji apple".

Scientists create device to detect H5N1

Russia: H5N1 Bird Flu Found in Chickens

www.chron.com

MOSCOW — The H5N1 strain of avian flu, which can be fatal to humans, has been detected in chickens at a farm in southern Russia, the country's veterinary watchdog agency said Tuesday.

The agency, Rosselkhoznadzor, said the outbreak was at a farm in the Krasnodar region. It said 410 chickens died of the disease and authorities slaughtered another 414 to prevent the disease's spread.

Deadly bird flu found in German poultry farm

www.sciam.com

An outbreak of deadly bird flu has been identified in a southern German poultry farm, a spokeswoman for Bavaria's environment ministry said on Saturday.

The spokeswoman said dead ducks from the farm in Wachenroth in Bavaria's Erlangen-Hoechstadt area had tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus, which can be lethal for people living in close contact with birds.

All 160,000 birds in the farm would be culled, the ministry spokeswoman said. The farm has been sealed off.

Local authorities had earlier said the farm contained some 44,000 birds. Officials discovered the infection after more than 400 ducks at the farm died over a short period of time.

Germany identified several cases of the deadly H5N1 strain in wild birds in Bavaria in June. A string of bird flu infections were also registered in Germany last year.

Earlier this week, Russia banned poultry imports from Italy to prevent the spread of bird flu after outbreaks there.

Globally, the H5N1 virus has killed 195 people out of 322 known cases, according to the World Health Organization. Hundreds of millions of birds have died or been slaughtered.

The vast majority of bird flu deaths have been in Asia. No deaths have yet been registered in the European Union.