TaqMan® Influenza A/H5 for Rapid, Accurate Bird Flu Detection

The TaqMan® Influenza A/H5 Detection Kit, which is capable of rapidly and reliably detecting multiple strains of avian influenza in laboratory samples, is now commercial available in Europe, Asia, and Africa. This test is not currently available for sale in the United States.

Applied Biosystems’ avian influenza kits can detect the presence of the avian influenza virus in as few as two and a half hours. In comparison, traditional cell culture testing takes from 2-10 days to confirm avian influenza infections. The Applied Biosystems kits include standardized reagents and an accompanying protocol run on real-time PCR platforms.

The kits, which can detect a broad range of viral strains, have been tested for accuracy against recent samples of avian influenza in collaboration with the following laboratories:
· Robert Koch Institute, Germany
· Avian Influenza Reference Veterinary Lab, Italy
· National Public Health Institute, Finland
· Ministry of Agriculture, Turkey

The Applied Biosystems TaqMan® Influenza A/H5 Detection Kits, which are manufactured in Warrington, England, are commercially available in Europe, Asia and Africa and have already been shipped to public health departments and veterinary laboratories in many European countries, including Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, as well as several countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Applied Biosystems currently has an installed base of over 1,400 real-time PCR platforms in public health laboratories across Europe, Asia, and Africa capable of running the avian influenza Taqman® assay.

To ensure availability of the kits in the event of an outbreak, Applied Biosystems intends to stockpile materials in the United Kingdom and Japan to enable a more rapid response to kit production and distribution.