Hand-held device to test for bird flu

A new device that can detect the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in 30 minutes has been created by scientists in Singapore.

It is hoped that the hand-held equipment will be able to test people quickly and at the point of infection or at transport centres, write the team of scientists who developed the test from Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in the journal Nature Medicine.

The technique, which has been drawn as a prototype on a CD-ROM, works by taking a throat-swab sample, and in comparison to other tests, "is equally sensitive and is 440 per cent faster and 2,000 to 5,000 per cent cheaper".

The scientists also believe that the procedure could detect other infectious diseases, including AIDS, hepatitis B and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS].

China announced last week that it had brought bird flu under control in the Guangdong province, near Hong Kong. The government said on Monday (September 17) that 36,130 ducks had been destroyed in their efforts to stem a spread of the disease.