European microchip maker STMicroelectronics is planning to market a disposable laboratory microchip that can confirm within about an hour a human case of bird flu.
STMicroelectronics, a Franco-Italian group, in partnership with the Singapore-based medical diagnostics company Veredus Laboratories, is developing a disposable laboratory microchip that could be available to healthcare providers this autumn.
STMicro says the single-test application will be a substantial breakthrough in the rapid identification of infections and will limit the spread of the disease and speed up treatment.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), to date the H5N1 avian flu virus has killed at least 79 people, and infected 150 others since 2003, which does not include some of the most recent cases reported in Turkey and Indonesia.
The virus remains one contacted through close contact with infected birds.
Veredus in it's role is developing an application, based on STMicro's technology, to identify if a patient is infected with the H5N1 strain or a subtype of influenza in a single test that could replace the several tests currently used to detect the illness.
The diagnostic facility is built on STMicroelectronics' "In-Check" platform, which is described as a complete laboratory on a chip, "lab-on-chip".
The lab-on-chip uses a sample of blood or a swab from the throat or nose to detect the virus, which is read by a machine.