January 11, 2007

Vietnam inaugurates mobile bird flu lab

A mobile bird flu laboratory with an investment of US$2 million has become operational in Vietnam, local newspaper Pioneer reported Wednesday.

The bio-safety lab inaugurated on Tuesday is able to rapidly conduct bird flu testing when the disease breaks out among human at large scale, the newspaper quoted Nguyen Tran Hien, director of Vietnam's National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, as saying.

The lab will give results of testing specimens from suspected bird flu patients in only one or two weeks, he said, noting that Vietnam has to wait for two months for the findings tested abroad.

In addition, the laboratory can easily be moved to localities with outbreaks among humans that helps reduce the risk of spreading the virus during transportation of specimens, Hien said.