Avian flu identification

Groundbreaking research to enable rapid diagnosis of bird flu – including the H5N1 strain – is being developed with the help of Nottingham Trent University.

Experts from the university’s School of Science and Technology are playing a key role in a European project to create portable machines capable of rapidly identifying the disease and potentially saving the lives of humans and animals. Researchers claim that the Portfastflu project, being made possible with €3 million of EU funding, would cut the current diagnosis time from up to a week to just two hours.

A swab containing saliva (humans) or tissue sample (animals) would be passed through the machine which would perform the molecular recognition of the virus strains; thereby identifying the presence of influenza - even the type or subtype of strain - and eliminating the need for samples to be sent to a testing laboratory.

The technology could prove to be a vital tool in the fight against bird flu, making it possible to set up exclusion zones and cull infected birds much faster, before infection spreads. This preventive measure is seen as absolutely crucial as there is still no definitive vaccine to treat the virus.

The research team – which consists of universities, research organisations and businesses, and is being led by the French company Genewave – is developing two machines; one briefcase-sized for use by veterinary surgeons or doctors out in the field, and a larger, table-top one for GPs and hospitals.

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