| ■ New Genetic Test Helps Detect Flu Faster | 2008.10.06 |
| The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new test that can help laboratories identify a strain of influenza in as little as four hours, versus four days, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. The test could help identify a new flu strain that could pose the threat of a deadly pandemic, or it could identify a conventional strain in a single person and aid doctors in that person's treatment, experts told the wire service. Shortly, state laboratories are expected to begin using the test, which was created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Applied Biosystems Inc., a Foster, Calif.-based firm. "We'll now be able to detect influenza in the community faster, which allows us to take steps more quickly to protect and save lives," CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding said in a news release cited by the AP. Up to now, different states used different testing methods, the wire service reported. Some 20 to 30 state labs should be equipped to use the test before year's end, the CDC said. |