S. Korea donates bird flu kits

JAKARTA: South Korea has donated rapid diagnostic kits at a total value of US$250,000 to Indonesia to diagnose avian influenza in birds, the South Korean Embassy said in Jakarta.

"The South Korean company Standard Diagnostics Inc. has donated the Avian Influenza Ag Kit (for 9,000 tests) and H5 Avian Influenza Kit (for 7,500 tests) to the Indonesian government," the embassy said in a press release sent to The Jakarta Post.

The Avian Influenza Ag Kit can detect whether birds are infected or not within 30 minutes, while the H5 Avian Influenza Kit is for detecting whether the avian influenza virus is the H5 type or not, the release said.

Many people fear the H5 virus can mutate into a deadly human strain that could kill millions of people.

"It is hoped that the Indonesian government can easily and quickly detect 16,500 avian influenza virus cases using the Korean company's donation," it said.

South Korean Ambassador Lee Sun-jin officially delivered the diagnostic kits to Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono on Tuesday. -- JP