Develop rapid test kits for H7N9 virus

Australian scientists have successfully developed a test kit for rapid detection of H7N9 influenza virus in poultry and will export this special test kit to Asia.

Artwork: CRIonline

Dr. Kurt Zuelke, director of the Veterinary Laboratory at Australia's leading scientific research institute CSIRO, said the test kit will produce rapid results with a very simple process. Accordingly, just mixing poultry blood samples with reactants, the device will identify the H7N9 virus based on the detected specific gene sequences.

Test kits including 8,000 samples will be exported to countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh.

Since the discovery of the H7N9 bird flu virus in February, China has now confirmed 130 cases of influenza infection, of which 37 patients died. No cases of human-to-human transmission have been detected.