Mast addresses suggested A/H1N1 issue

Mast Seeplex Respiratory tests can detect up to 12 viruses at the same time.

These tests could be useful following news announced in the Times that hospitals may be missing cases of A/H1N1 – swine flu – due to inadequate screening methods.

Mast’s test can detect influenza A and its multiplex PCR can allow staff in laboratories to run multiple tests in one go.

This, according to Mast, can alleviate "pressures on staff such as space constraints, training and sample and testing hands-on time".

Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London who advises the Government and the World Health Organisation, said at the Times Chelthenham Science Festival that surveillance of diseases such as swine flu is almost "non-existent".

He added that he believes the UK should follow the US’s lead whereby they have decided to test healthy young adults who are showing symptoms of respiratory disease, instead of individually studying them.