CYPRESS, Calif., July 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted an emergency use authorization for a test that detects H1N1 influenza virus, Quest Diagnostics officials say.
The Influenza A H1N1 Real Time RT-PCR test is the first commercial laboratory test granted an emergency use authorization by the FDA for testing for H1N1 flu -- a strain of influenza A virus initially referred to as the swine flu virus -- Dr. Jay M. Lieberman, medical director of Focus Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, said.
"The PCR test detects specific gene targets for influenza A in general and swine flu in particular, earlier tests could only identify if a patient had influenza A or B -- and in the fall we are going to want to know if we are dealing with seasonal flu or H1N1," Lieberman told United Press International.
"The public health labs use testing to deal with public health aspects of the pandemic, but with the new test, clinicians who have patients with flu symptoms can swab a patient and submit it to Diagnostics and get a result in 24 hours for a diagnosis."
Focus Diagnostics will continue to work closely with public health officials to assist in surveillance of the influenza A H1N1.
The data indicate not only has the pandemic virus not faded away, it is behaving differently than the seasonal flu, which is typically absent during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, Lieberman added.
