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WASHINGTON: A new "chip" can test for 11 different influenza strains, including avian flu, in less than a quarter of the time it now takes to diagnose flu in patients, US researchers said on Monday.

The test devised at the University of Colorado is still being validated, but the researchers hope to develop it into an on-the-spot test for influenza.

"If we could put this technology in every doctor's office, that would be fantastic," said Kathy Rowlen, a chemistry and biochemistry professor at the university who helped direct the research.

"The current gold standard for doing strain analysis takes about three to four days. That is going to be way too long if we get a highly virulent form of avian influenza that becomes human-adapted."

There are quick tests for influenza, but they only tell if a patient has it or not and do not differentiate among strains. The flu virus mutates constantly and several different strains can be circulating at any time. Influenza kills anywhere between 250,000 and 500,000 people globally each year, but health experts expect a pandemic could emerge that would kill many more.

The main threat now is the virulent H5N1 avian flu virus infecting chickens in parts of Asia and Europe. But it could mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person.

Rowlen's lab began working to help researchers track the strains of flu in circulation. But a quick diagnostic tool has become imperative as fears have grown over an H5N1 pandemic.

Doctors need to know sooner so they can give patients antiviral drugs within 48 hours to lessen the severity of the illness.

"This new technology should help provide better global influenza surveillance by making it easier for more laboratories to swiftly identify severe flu strains, which in turn may aid health officials to stem potential flu epidemics and even pandemics," said Rowlen.

The chip, which can be configured to test for any flu strain, has been tested by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and was more than 90% accurate in identifying H5N1 flu samples, the university said in a statement. Right now it is not easy to use.

"We have to take a patient's sample and process it in a rather complicated way," Rowlen said in a telephone interview. But her team is working to make the process simpler and more portable.

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