The Chinese government should have used newly developed DNA test to identify the spread of bird flu, according to biotech scientists. They said that the tests, developed by HKDNA Chips in Hong Kong, are around 100 times more sensitive than the tests currently being used, and maintain that the outbreak of avian flu last month could have been dealt with more quickly if DNA tests had been used to detect it earlier.
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Project manager of HKDNA Chips, Dr Richard Collins, said the that new DNA tests, sold as the H5 Avian Influenza Virus Detection Kit, would have been far superior in identifying the new strain of H5N1 bird flu that wreaked havoc amongst the countries poultry processors and necessitated a compensation package worth US$250m.
Government tests for monitoring poultry are “old-fashioned technology” he said, that take three days to detect the H5 virus. The new kit, meanwhile, takes just four hours.
It is also more expensive however, costing US$25,000 per kit. The conventional tests cost US$200,000 in total. The Environment and Food Bureau (EFB) commented that the choice was made “based on the best combination of available tests and procedures.”
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