Health & Medicine
Could New Technology Help Diagnose Flu?
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Sep 08, 2013 11:34 PM EDT
Researchers have found new technology that may help show the basis of a much-needed home test that could help diagnose influenza.
According to a presentation at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), researchers worked to explain how a tool could help identify a specific strain of the flu virus and select the most effective treatment method.
Lead study author Suri Iyer, Ph.D., explained that an inexpensive diagnostic test can be particularly important for the flu, which causes widespread illness and an average of 36,000 deaths annually in the United States
"Just going to the doctor's office or hospital for diagnosis can be counterproductive during a major flu outbreak," Iyer said, via a press release. "It carries the risk of spreading the disease. During the last swine flu outbreak, hospitals in some areas went on TV to tell people not come to the ER. Not only could they spread the virus, but ERs did not have the facilities to test hundreds of worried people."
Iyer of Georgia State University in Atlanta and University of Cincinnati and her colleague Allison Weiss, Ph.D., launched research on diagnosing the flu and other viral disease drawbacks with existing tests.
According to background information from the study, the tests can produce results in as little as 15 minutes. However they are expensive and may sometimes produce false negatives.
The study concludes the following regarding flu antigens: "As a result of that uncertainty, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages doctors to confirm test results with viral culture, which takes 3 to 10 days. But waiting this long for confirmation shuts the window on antiviral treatment.
"Existing flu tests use antibodies that recognize flu virus antigens, proteins on the flu virus' surface. Iyer and Weiss took a different approach, which involves using carbohydrates to detect the antigens, and has advantages over antibody-based approaches. Flu viruses have two major antigens, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, which determine the specific strain of flu virus. Changes in hemagglutinin and/or new combinations of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase signal the emergence of a new strain of virus. That happened in the spring of 2009, when the new "swine flu" ignited concerns about a worldwide epidemic.
"In the ACS presentation, Iyer explained how the new test technology uses various forms of carbohydrates that can capture the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, and via a color change or other signal, indicate both infection and the specific type or strain of flu virus. Information on the strain would be important, enabling doctors to pick the most effective antiviral drug. The new approach has other potential advantages, including quicker results, lower cost and greater reliability, according to Iyer."
More information regarding the study can be found via the American Chemical Society.
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First Posted: Sep 08, 2013 11:34 PM EDT
Researchers have found new technology that may help show the basis of a much-needed home test that could help diagnose influenza.
According to a presentation at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), researchers worked to explain how a tool could help identify a specific strain of the flu virus and select the most effective treatment method.
Lead study author Suri Iyer, Ph.D., explained that an inexpensive diagnostic test can be particularly important for the flu, which causes widespread illness and an average of 36,000 deaths annually in the United States
"Just going to the doctor's office or hospital for diagnosis can be counterproductive during a major flu outbreak," Iyer said, via a press release. "It carries the risk of spreading the disease. During the last swine flu outbreak, hospitals in some areas went on TV to tell people not come to the ER. Not only could they spread the virus, but ERs did not have the facilities to test hundreds of worried people."
Iyer of Georgia State University in Atlanta and University of Cincinnati and her colleague Allison Weiss, Ph.D., launched research on diagnosing the flu and other viral disease drawbacks with existing tests.
According to background information from the study, the tests can produce results in as little as 15 minutes. However they are expensive and may sometimes produce false negatives.
The study concludes the following regarding flu antigens: "As a result of that uncertainty, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages doctors to confirm test results with viral culture, which takes 3 to 10 days. But waiting this long for confirmation shuts the window on antiviral treatment.
"Existing flu tests use antibodies that recognize flu virus antigens, proteins on the flu virus' surface. Iyer and Weiss took a different approach, which involves using carbohydrates to detect the antigens, and has advantages over antibody-based approaches. Flu viruses have two major antigens, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, which determine the specific strain of flu virus. Changes in hemagglutinin and/or new combinations of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase signal the emergence of a new strain of virus. That happened in the spring of 2009, when the new "swine flu" ignited concerns about a worldwide epidemic.
"In the ACS presentation, Iyer explained how the new test technology uses various forms of carbohydrates that can capture the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, and via a color change or other signal, indicate both infection and the specific type or strain of flu virus. Information on the strain would be important, enabling doctors to pick the most effective antiviral drug. The new approach has other potential advantages, including quicker results, lower cost and greater reliability, according to Iyer."
More information regarding the study can be found via the American Chemical Society.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone