The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new test designed to diagnose the H5 strain of the avian influenza virus in humans within four hours instead of the usual two to three days. Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designed the test, which will be used as a preliminary diagnostic tool.

“This laboratory test is a major step forward in our ability to more quickly detect cases of H5 avian influenza and provides additional safeguards to protect public health,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt stated in a news release.

The CDC is distributing testing kits to laboratories in the Laboratory Response Network in all 50 states. There are approximately 140 LRN laboratories. The test kits are also being sent to the World Health Organization and its collaborating centers worldwide.

Results of tests will be used to track cases of illness with the H5 strain of the avian influenza virus. The test is used in patients with symptoms of severe respiratory illness and a risk of exposure, such as direct contact with sick, dead, or infected birds in countries with confirmed outbreaks of the H5N1 virus in poultry.