Firm says test speeds detection of bird flu
Huntsville's Genaco currently working with China officials
Thursday, November 17, 2005
A Huntsville biomedical company has developed a test that it says can detect all known strains of the avian flu and other respiratory-related bacteria and viruses within four hours.
Genaco Biomedical Products said the test's speed and accuracy would allow for a prompt quarantine of bird flu victims and proper diagnosis and treatment of other respiratory problems whether caused by a virus or bacteria.
The test can detect the presence of between 20 to 40 different pathogens from one cotton swab. The system was developed by Dr. Jian Han, Genaco's president and chief scientist, who founded the company in 1996.
Dennis Grimaud, CEO of Genaco, said the company is currently working with the Chinese government's public health officials in connection with bird flu testing and is preparing federal Food and Drug Administration trials on the diagnostic technology.
Grimaud said Genaco also has been working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the past three years in a validation phase for its Templex technology, which uses primers to highlight gene specific targets that can show the presence of distinct bacteria or viruses.
Current concerns about avian flu are due to the unprecedented number of countries, predominantly in Asia, that have been infected simultaneously with the virus in their poultry populations, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO reports 150 million birds have died or been destroyed in connection with the virus.
Public health officials have reported "species jumps" where a small number of humans have been infected with the bird virus. The WHO said concerns include direct infection from poultry to humans and, more ominously, that the virus could form in a way that is very infectious to humans and easily spread.
The company also is preparing to begin manufacturing products related to hospital infections and markers signaling the presence of diseases such as cervical cancer.
As part of the Genaco product review by the CDC, the company's test was given 35 pathogens to detect. Grimaud said it detected all of them correctly, including H5N1, the avian flu strain.
Grimaud said Genaco's close work with Chinese public health officials is ongoing and he doesn't know how widely the Templex test will be used as a "first line of defense" in the face of the bird flu concerns.
Grimaud said the Templex test can be used by U.S. researchers now, who can do their validation work.
Genaco, which employs 14 people in Huntsville, provided the Templex test to China for SARS virus testing, and to the public health ministry in Thailand for disease outbreak testing following the 2004 tsunami.
© 2005 The Huntsville Times
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