Mobile bird-flu labs hit road
Technicians work in one of the new mobile laboratories that have been introduced to take the fight against diseases like bird flu into the field.
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It looked like any other white transport van. But instead of boxes of consumer goods, it contained a man and a woman dressed in white working in what appeared to be a laboratory. As the man peered through his thick glasses at tubes hanging from a circular rack, the woman worked on a notebook computer.
The van was in fact one of two new mobile laboratories unveiled yesterday in an effort to cope with rising demand for advanced laboratory facilities in remote areas hit by bird flu, said Dr Paijit Warachit, director-general of the Medical Sciences Department, which owns the labs. One of the vans was sent to Phichit, where the demand for bird-flu tests is particularly high. The other was to be kept on standby at the department. Each is worth Bt15 million. The mobile laboratories are almost as well-equipped as the bird-flu testing unit at the department. Unlike the department's 12 provincial branch laboratories, the mobile labs are capable of conducing tests using an advanced molecular-biology technique known as real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR). The test reduces by half the time needed to confirm a case of human bird-flu infection, said Paijit. The 12 laboratories' conventional PCR test takes about eight hours, but the real-time PCR shortens it to between three and four hours, he said. Since the labs can be taken into epidemic-stricken areas, time is saved as samples do not have to be transported to Bangkok for testing, Paijit said, adding that the facilities would also be useful in dealing with dengue fever and enterovirus 71. The labs have their own power-generating equipment, relying on fuel and batteries rather than electricity. The maintenance cost is no higher than that of the department's permanent laboratory, Paijit said. Also yesterday, caretaker Public Health Minister Pinij Charusombat said his department had stepped up its public awareness campaign against bird flu, particularly in 30 affected provinces. Some 800,000 volunteers were sent on home visits to tell people how to protect themselves against the virus.
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