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China develops instant diagnostic method for swine flu

    New Delhi: In a bid to curb swine flu outbreak, China has developed a diagnostic tool for quick detection. According to Minister of Health Chen Zhu, the nation has developed an effective method, which features a testing chemical reagent, for instant diagnosis of H1N1 influenza, reports China Daily. It will be used at the centre for disease control and prevention (CDC) offices at all levels. The WHO has also raised the official alert level to phase 5, one notch below a full-fledged global pandemic. In response to the heightened alert, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has asked people to stay home for a five-day partial shutdown of the country, where 176 people have been killed by the epidemic. Chen also revealed that China has asked the WHO, and some disease-hit countries including the United States, for the virus strain of the variant H1N1, which is crucial in the ongoing research for a vaccine. Li Dexin, a senior official at China's CDC, said that the WHO might provide the virus strain by mid-May. "Once we get the H1N1 virus strain, it's possible to produce the vaccine in three months," Li said. Yang Weizhong, deputy director of China's CDC, said that although the time to avoid global outbreak has passed the best the government can do is to delay the spread of the virus. This would provide more time for the research and production of vaccines.
-May 1, 2009

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