Inexpensive test detects H5N1 infections quickly and ...( Scientists from the University of Colo...),Health

Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed an inexpensive "gene chip" test based on a single influenza virus gene that could allow scientists to quickly identify flu viruses, including avian influenza H5N1. The researchers used the MChip to detect H5N1 in samples collected over a three-year period from people and animals in geographically diverse locales. In tests on 24 H5N1 viral isolates, the chip provided complete information about virus type and subtype in 21 cases and gave no false positive results, report the scientists. They say the MChip could provide a significant advantage over available tests because it is based on a single gene segment that mutates less often than the flu genes typically used in diagnostic tests. As a result, the MChip may not need to be updated as frequently to keep up with the changing virus.

The research was led by University of Colorado scientist Kathy L. Rowlen, Ph.D., and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. A paper describing the work, now available online, is scheduled to appear in the December 15 issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Analytical Chemistry.

"Concerns about a possible influenza pandemic make it imperative that we continue to devise reliable and easy-to-use diagnostic tests for H5N1 that can be employed on-site where outbreaks are suspected," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "The MChip developed by Dr. Rowlen and her colleagues performed extremely well in initial tests and has the potential to be a valuable tool in global influenza surveillance efforts."

The MChip has several advantages over the FluChip, a flu diagnostic previously developed by the same research team, says Dr. Rowlen. While the FluChip is based on three influenza genes--hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA) and matrix (M)--the MChip
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NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
13-Nov-2006