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New bird flu test drastically cuts waiting time for results

Infection Control Monitor, December 10, 2004

A new test developed by Chinese researchers to detect bird flu in humans can cut the waiting time for results from up to a week to just a couple of hours, Reuters reports.

In addition, healthcare workers can use the test at the site of an outbreak of H5N1 infections, rather than have to bring it back to a laboratory. The test has about a 90% accuracy rate, according to researchers.

As health officials from around the world express fear over the potential the bird flu has in becoming the next human flu pandemic, the diagnostic test can help control the virus more quickly. That, they say, is critically important in the absence of a vaccine.

So far this year, the bird flu has killed 12 people in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam. Studies in China suggest that the virus is endemic to poultry in those areas.

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