Beijing, Apr 27: Chinese scientists today claimed to have developed the world's first multiple real-time fluorescent test kit for testing some of the deadly Bird Flu virus subgroups, the official media reported today. Dubbed RT-PCR, the reagent kit is able to test three subgroups -- H5, H7 and H9 -- of avian influenza viruses simultaneously, instead of only one subgroup at a time in the past, Tian Bo, head of the appraisal team said.
This is believed to be the first time in the world that a technology was developed to test more than one subgroup of the bird flu virus simultaneously, Xinhua news agency reported from the southern city of Shenzhen.
Experts from the appraisal team held that the test reagent kit is efficient and easy to use. It is suitable for poultry quarantine, human disease control and epidemiological investigation.
Avian influenza, or Bird Flu, is a severe infectious disease which affects waterfowl and poultry that has jumped to humans. It causes severe disease and death in people because human immune systems have little experience with it and thus no defence against it.
Blessed with a dense water network, Shenzhen is a transient home to migrant birds and a major supplier of live poultry for the adjacent Hong Kong.
As early as in august 2002, the local quarantine bureau began to employ the fluorescent RT-PCR test approach to examine poultry to be supplied to Hong Kong, and it took about four hours to get the test result.
The scientific outcome, with independent patent, has met the world standards, the report said.
Bureau Report