[K-SCIENCE] On-the-spot Bird Flue Detector

South Korea regularly suffers outbreaks of bird flu, also known as Avian influenza, every year.

It experienced a large-scale damage caused by the flu last winter when two different types of AI viruses were spread across the country.

As there are no remedial medicines to cure diseases caused by the AI viruses, quick detection methods for them have been called for in the medical sector.

However, it takes more than a week to confirm the infection of bird flu with the existing methods.

The conventional on-the-spot detection devices are said to be inaccurate.

Solving the problem, a South Korean research team has developed a device that can immediately and accurately diagnose the deadly virus.

When a diagnosis kit is put into the reader of the new device, a positive sign pops up on the screen instantly.

The existing devices are not capable of detecting the viruses from the feces of poultry like chickens and ducks.

But the newly-developed device using inorganic nanoparticles has a susceptibility that is 10 times higher than the existing ones.

[Lee Chun-Seok, Ph.D. researcher, KIST]
"Based on the novel technology using nanoparticles that absorb the near-infrared ray and emit light, the new device has a higher susceptibility (to the AI virus)."

The research team has also developed technologies to identify different types of AI viruses without any special equipment.

The fluorescent substance developed by the team can diagnose AI virus infections with a microscope within one or two days, as it reacts with active oxygen produced by the viruses.

The new diagnosis technology, that is accurate and simple, is expected to be actively used to prevent the spread of AI viruses.