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Taiwan develops A(H1N1) flu test kit

ROC Central News Agency

2009.05.01 16:27:02

By Elizabeth Hsu

Taking temperatures to prevent swine flu
Taipei, May 1 (CNA) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has developed a test kit that can diagnose within six hours whether someone is infected with the new H1N1 strain of influenza A virus that emerged in Mexico recently, a senior CDC official said Friday.

CDC Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi demonstrated at the CDC-run Kunyang laboratory in Taipei how the kit works and the procedure for the diagnostic test.

The standard test for the A(H1N1) virus, commonly known as swine flu, consists of three stages, with the test kit serving in the first stage to determine whether a person is infected, according to Shih.

In Taiwan, three categories are used to describe the status of A(H1N1) infection -- under investigation, probable case and confirmed case.

Once someone is diagnosed positive in the first stage, the lab then conducts virus isolation and virus antibody testing to obtain a more accurate diagnosis, Shih said.

According to the World Health Organization's latest report on the swine flu outbreaks, as of 5 p.m. GMT April 30, 11 countries had officially reported 257 cases of infection.

The U.S. government had reported 109 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death, while Mexico had reported 97 confirmed human cases of infection, including seven deaths.

Other countries reporting confirmed cases include Austria (one case), Canada (19 cases), Germany (three cases), Israel (two cases), the Netherlands (one case) , New Zealand (three cases) , Spain (13 cases), Switzerland (one case) and the United Kingdom (eight cases).

No deaths had been reported from any of those countries, but the WHO warned that the situation was continuing to evolve rapidly.

Taiwan has launched measures to prevent the virus from crossing its borders.

According to Shih, the Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) acquired the key DNA sequence of the new virus strain April 25 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and two days later obtained the RNA of the virus from the Miaoli-based Animal Technology Institute of Taiwan.

Using this information, the DOH was able to develop and produce the quick-test kit, which will be distributed for use by the government and contracted laboratories, Shih said.