China has developed a method to test for the bird flu virus in four hours, much shorter than the 21 days taken by the internationally accepted detection method recommended by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), according to a meeting held Saturday in Beijing to approve the method.

The new method of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was jointly developed by the Beijing Administration for Entry-and-Exit Inspection and Quarantine and a company in Shenzhen, south Guangdong Province.

The method has been assessed and approved by experts from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Agricultural University of China, and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2004)