Avian Flu Breakthrough: Virus Detection 'in Two Hours'

Scientists at Nottingham Trent University in Britain said they are developing a machine that can rapidly diagnose different types of bird flu, including the extremely infectious H5N1 bird flu virus, also known as Avian influenza.

A consortium of researchers from the British university's School of Science and Technology and European scientists are on track to develop a mobile machine that they claim would identify not only bird flu, but a wide range of influenza A and influenza B viruses, as well as other respiratory viruses within hours.

This breakthrough technology, which would be able to identify both human and animal influenza, would enable health experts set up exclusion zones before the spread of the fatal virus, thus saving countless lives of humans and animals.

“At present influenza immunity relates only to specific strains and simply does not exist in the event of a new pandemic outbreak. The ongoing outbreaks and spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus in poultry and wild birds have led to fears that a subtype that is transmissible from human to human could emerge. Therefore the ability to detect and type influenza virus immediately is essential in setting up appropriate controls as quickly as possible to minimize the spread of any potential pandemic virus," said Dr Alan McNally, who is working on a project.

“The key thing is that the process will be fully automated so there is no requirement for a skilled person,” said Dr Alan McNally, an expert in molecular biology at Nottingham Trent University, and a former avian flu researcher for the Government.

The new technology, which would prove to be a vital tool in the fight against bird flu, would allow instant, on-the-spot screening of people who are ill and distinguish between those carrying deadly strains from those who have less serious strains of the flu.

It generally takes two to three days to detect the strain responsible for suspected cases of bird flu, and it takes up to a week in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam, which are most affected by the virus. The latest technology, developed by the British and European researchers under the project Portfastflu, could reduce diagnosis time to a matter of hours.

As part of the 3-yaer Portfastflu project, which is being led by the French company Genewave and supported by €3m funding from the European Union, the researchers are developing two machines, a briefcase-sized version for use out in the field, and desktop version for use in hospitals and GPs’ surgeries.

The device works by recognizing molecules from a swab of human salivadefine or a tissue sample from birds or animals, before identifying if it is infected with bird flu and if so which strain is present.

The International team of researchers, which besides Nottingham Trent University includes Biosensia (Ireland), Cirad (France), VIB (Belgium), Ikerlan (Spain), Gaiker (Spain) and the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research (Spain), hopes to have a device developed for use by December 2010.

H5N1, also known as A(H5N1), is a subtype of the Influenza A virus that is capable of causing illness in many animal species, including humans, while a bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for "highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1", is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as "avian influenza" or simply "bird flu", and is endemic in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia.

The H5N1 virus though remains primarily a virus of birds, but experts fright that once it starts transmitting from person to person, it would sweep the world, leaving millions more to die and triggering a devastating human pandemic.

Since the deadly H5N1 strain re-emerged in Asia in 2003, it has infected more than 385 people and killed 243 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia. The outbreaks have been confirmed in around 50 countries and territories, and Indonesia is the hardest hit regions of all, with 108 of the deaths, according to data from the World Health Organization.