NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A multinational team of researchers has developed a system that can detect the bird flu virus on a throat swab specimen in less than 30 minutes.

The ability to combat an epidemic of H5N1 bird flu on a global scale would depend on having a low-cost, easy-to-use test that could quickly identify the earliest cases, note Dr. Juergen Pipper, from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore, and colleagues in the research journal Nature Medicine.

In their report, the researchers describe the development of a handheld system that uses magnetic particles and permanent magnets to isolate, purify, and concentrate viruses contained in small droplets. The sample then undergoes testing by PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, to identify the viral RNA.

Compared with current tests, the new system was four times faster in detecting H5N1 and up to 50 times cheaper to perform.

Dr. Pipper told Reuters Health that a goal in future studies will be to expand the testing capabilities of the system, so that it more accurately identifies H5N1. By testing more RNA sequences in a specimen, "it would be possible to distinguish a rather harmless 'seasonal' influenza from avian influenza."

The researchers also point out that the system could be easily adapted to test for other disease-causing viruses such as HIV, SARS or hepatitis B virus.

SOURCE: Nature Medicine, online September 23, 2007.