smiths detection to launch portable

Smiths Detection to Launch Portable Diagnostic System For Foot-and-mouth

disease, Avian Flu

Smiths Detection, part of the global technology business Smiths Group,

today announces it is to launch a portable detection system that will

enable veterinarians to carry out on-site diagnosis of animal diseases

such as foot-and-mouth and avian flu. This new technology means vets

will be able to diagnose diseases in livestock and birds in the field

in less than 90 minutes rather than having to send samples for

laboratory analysis.

The initial focus of the technology will be on identifying

foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu with a wide range of tests for

other diseases to be made available after the initial systems are

deployed. Smiths Detection has been working with the global reference

center for foot-and-mouth disease - the Institute for Animal Health

(IAH) - to develop and validate the system.

The new portable device is specifically designed to be used by vets

wherever livestock are kept and comprises a simple-to-use sample

preparation cartridge and a rugged portable instrument. The technology

employed is a novel form of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), a well

established technique for the detection and analysis of infectious

diseases.

Smiths Detection has been supplying field-based PCR systems for

bioterrorism applications for many years. The new generation of

instruments, building on this experience, is designed to run in harsh

environments and, unlike typical laboratory PCR machines, requires no

setting up by the operator between each test.

A wide variety of veterinary sample types can be analysed by the

instrument and up to five independent tests can be run simultaneously.

An analysis of the infection is available in under 90 minutes,

enabling the vet to take swift action. The instrument can be

decontaminated at the location, a critical feature in the control of

disease outbreaks.

For the last three years, Smiths Detection has worked closely with the

laboratory of Larry Wangh at Brandeis University, near Boston,

Massachusetts, that invented a novel DNA amplification and analysis

technique called Linear After The Exponential PCR (LATE PCR).

Smiths Detection holds an exclusive license to this technology. LATE

PCR provides significant improvements over traditional PCR techniques,

in particular in its ability to identify multiple types of bacteria or

virus in a single test and to determine accurately the strain of an

individual infection. This latter characteristic is critical in Avian

Influenza where discrimination between the pathogenic strain of H5N1

and more common forms of the disease, is vital.

Donald King, Group leader of molecular characterisation and

diagnostics at the UK Institute for Animal Health (IAH), says: "Smiths

Detection is actively collaborating with the Institute for Animal

Health's global reference laboratory for foot-and-mouth disease to

develop an assay to allow the rapid detection of FMD-infected animals

in the field. This work has involved the development of a suitable

assay format which will be validated when Smith's new platform

technology is available in the near future. The results of this early

pilot work have been presented at international conferences."

Watch more breaking news now on our video feed:

Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in

sometime.

Labels: assay, avian flu, H5N1, livestock, PCR, polymerase, Smiths