New test spots bird flu in birds within 4 hours, official says

Procedure aims to prevent the entry of the deadly disease in North America

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Tuesday that scientists have a new test that can tell within four hours if a bird is infected with bird flu, but it still will take about a week to know if it has the deadly Asian strain.

Bird flu hasn't yet reached North America, but testing of migrating wild birds has begun in an attempt to catch it early if it does, Johanns told the Associated Press, in a joint interview with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

Leavitt added that four hours also is how long it takes to get preliminary results in people infected with the H5N1 virus, too. But if bird flu ever begins spreading easily among people, that's too long, he told the AP. "If it occurs anywhere in the world, it's just a matter of weeks until it appears in the United States," Leavitt said.

Bird flu has killed at least 127 people worldwide since it began spreading in Asia in late 2003. Though it is difficult for people to catch the virus, experts fear it could mutate into a form easily spread between people, potentially sparking a worldwide outbreak.

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