UN FAO on mobile bird flu rapid detection

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reported that a mobile rapid-detection technology could revolutionize the fight against bird flu and many other livestock diseases.

The FAO in a press release said Animal health experts from 15 nations are meeting in Vienna to discuss and examine the new technology over the course of five days.
"The kit could even be adapted to detect the strain of bird flu, including H5N1 - the cause of death of millions of poultry and numerous human fatalities. Moreover, such systems could easily be adapted to send results to a main control centre, allowing a much faster response to an outbreak," the FAO said.

The organization noted that the talks were focused on reducing the main device's size from a small portable television "into what researchers call a 'laboratory in a pen'." The current size groups a USD 1,000 mobile test system and reader. According to FAO, the global poultry sector has lost over USD 10 billion since the bird flu's outbreak in Asia at the end of 2003.