Via Reuters, a bit of good news on an otherwise quiet morning: Improved test can detect avian or seasonal flu. Excerpt:

An updated diagnostic test can simultaneously detect whether someone is suffering from an H5 strain of bird flu or seasonal influenza, its developer said on Tuesday.

The improved version eliminates the need for two tests, requires only one sample and can provide a diagnosis quickly.

"It is more efficient in that you can screen for H5 and also identify seasonal flu A and B," Dr Martin Curran, of Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) who devised the test, said in an interview.

Curran presented the improved test at the annual meeting of the HPA at the University of Warwick in central England. The HPA monitors infectious diseases in Britain.

He said timing would be vital in dealing with an outbreak of suspected bird flu.

"It is important that people are treated very quickly and that any contacts are treated as well. You need the results within 24 hours for Tamiflu to be effective," he said, referring to Swiss drug maker Roche's antiviral drug.