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Our Bureau

`Test to cost about Rs 1,200'

Mumbai , March 8

Diagnostic-laboratories-chain Wellspring, promoted by the Nicholas Piramal group, is equipped with the diagnostic test to detect the H5N1 strains of the bird-flu virus in humans.

The tests available in all their laboratories across the country would use the RT-PCR (Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) technique, a Wellspring communiqué said.

The tests would cost about Rs 1,200, said Dr Swati Piramal, Director with the Group. Although there are no cases of bird-flu in humans in the country, Wellspring was being prepared, she said. The test is expensive, because of the primers, she added. It would be ideal for people coming in from high-risk countries.

Wellspring operates out of 15 locations across the country, including the metros. The RT-PCR diagnostic technique for testing bird flu in humans is recommended by the US-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organisation. A throat swab sample should be collected within 48 hours of developing symptoms. It takes four days to detect the presence of H5N1 virus, the note said.

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Wellspring launches bird-flu diagnostic test

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