H5N1 Avian Bird Flu Receives “Rapid Virus Detection” Test Kit
If the H5n1 virus, better known as avian bird flu turns into a pandemic doctors will soon be able to more quickly test for the virus in humans thanks to a “rapid virus detection” test kit created by the Experimental Therapeutics Centre, the Agency for Science and Technology Research alongside clinicians from Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Using the new test doctors can find out if patients are suffering from H5N1 in just one hour.
While H5N1 is not normally transmitted to humans scientists fear that the disease could make the “jump” from birds to human, causing mass infections and potentially death.
Health officials believe that the best way to fight H5N1 is to catch it early and isolate anyone who has contracted the virus until researchers can determine that a pandemic is not occurring.
The new test kit is known as the 5N1 real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) assay and it is the only kit that can currently test for all of the H5N1 virus variations quickly and effectively within a few hours.
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