According to the World Health Organisation, the world is going through its worst-ever outbreak of avian influenza, commonly known as ‘bird flu’. In this latest outbreak, the highly infectious H5N1 strain of the virus is thought to have caused hundreds of thousands of wild bird deaths and millions of domestic bird deaths.
While there are several subtypes, only influenza A viruses of the H5 and H7 subtypes are known to cause the ‘highly pathogenic’ form (causing high mortality in poultry) of the disease, most notably the H5N1 subtype.
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) Sample Classification
While bird flu normally only infects birds, on rare occasions, it has been known to have infected humans. As such, there are two distinct shipping instructions for animal and human samples suspected or known to carry the avian influenza virus.
- Category A – cultures, faeces, carcasses or other products (for example, blood) derived from animals known or suspected to have been infected with the A(H5N1) avian influenza virus
- Category B – human blood and other human samples known or suspected to contain the A(H5N1) subtype, or cultures, faeces, carcasses, blood or other samples known or suspected to contain any other subtype of avian influenza virus 4
Intelsius Avian Influenza Packaging Solutions
Intelsius have been providing Category A and B compliant sample transport solutions for bird flu samples for over 20 years.
We provide a range of Category A and B compliant solutions; however, we recommend using our PathoPak sample transport packaging as it is both Category A and B compliant and provides a rigid secondary bottle ideal for shipping complete or partial bird carcases, blood tubes and swab samples taken from suspected cases.
It also comes with a cardboard outer pre-printed with relevant Category A and B markings, making shipping easy, safe, and cost-effective. Watch our animated PathoPak video below, and click the button below to read more about PathoPak.
Get in Touch
If you have questions about sample transport packaging for avian influenza samples or want to know how to purchase PathoPak and other Intelsius solutions, click below to send us a message, and a member of our team will be in touch shortly.