Vietnam is researching the production of biological reagents to diagnose the H1N1 influenza A virus and has gained good results from the initial experiments, a health official said on Wednesday.

Their estimated cost of less than VND800,000 per test will make them far cheaper than imported reagents, which cost some VND1.3 million (nearly $73), Huan said.

For now, Vietnam is using imported reagents paid for partly by the World Health Organization and several foreign institutes.

Early this month, the concern was raised that their quantity would need to be dramatically increased to handle the rising number of H1N1 cases and tests. That’s when the Pasteur Institute stepped in and offered its services.

Also at the meeting, deputy director Tran Thanh Duong of the Preventive Health and Environment Department said that some Ho Chi Minh City schools with H1N1-infected students were spraying their classrooms with insecticide as a precautionary measure.

Duong warned there was a very high risk of the disease spreading rapidly in industrial zones, where sick workers were opting not to take time off as their pay would be cut for the duration.

On the same day, the Ministry of Health reported that a further 84 people had tested positive for H1N1, increasing Vietnam’s tally to 2,226 since May.

Around half of the patients have been discharged from hospital.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre