The Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine has developed a high-speed test to screen pigs for swine fever.
The new test delivers results in just four hours, and is expected to be in use nationwide within the week.
The test is dubbed multiple polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, and its makers say it can screen pigs accurately and conveniently.
Compared with other testing methods, which can take up to four days and sometimes fail to detect bacteria, multiple PCR is a considerable achievement.
It can find all strains of streptococcus suis, the virus causing the illness, in a pig in four hours. The academy will establish training workshops in a few days.
PCR is commonly used in labs to diagnose infectious diseases.
(CCTV August 2, 2005)
