Unmasked technicians: a sight at SGPGI lab

The equipment used is a bio-safety cabinet for extraction of RNA from the sample and a real time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine for confirming that whether the RNA is from the H1N1 virus. At one time,batches of 50 samples are handled and the complete test takes around seven to eight hours.

“The process starts with counting of the samples on one hand and pre-PCR preparations on the other. In the first half,the RNA extracted a day before from the samples are put on the PCR machine for final stage of testing,” said Mishra,fondly known as Chhote Mishra among his colleagues.

“Late in the evening,we do the most tedious job of extracting these RNA from the fresh samples which are collected on the same day. This takes around three to four hours,depending on the number of samples,” he added.

When it comes to managing the infectious virus,Mishra does not trust anyone. “I take care of handling the most risky job myself because any mistake here means all of us will get infected by the virus,” he said.

This risky business is undertaken in the small laboratory 1,marked as Animal Laboratory,with a “bio- hazardous” label warning people to be away from the laboratory. “When the sample is opened here,we do not know the concentration of virus in the sample. So anyone entering the laboratory wears the Personal Protection Kit,which covers them completely,” said Mishra.

The gigantic bio-safety cabinet in which the sample tubes are opened is treated with UV rays 15 minutes before use. “The virus RNA when covered with protein layer is infectious. When in the buffer,this protein layer gets disintegrated and thus the RNA becomes non-infectious,” said RK Singh,another technician in-charge of the Viral Transport Media,the liquid in which the swab in transported from one place to another. The next important step,which takes another two hours,is to push the pre-PCR samples in the tiny wells of the PCR machines. “In short,the test is a three step process: first we check for Influenza A,then for H1 virus and finally for the ‘swine’ character to confirm if the H1N1 is the novel H1N1 virus or not,” said Mishra. The laboratory started testing for swine flu from July 6,but the first test was confirmed on August 8.

“When the first sample of Hasan Rizvi was confirmed around 8.30 pm on August 8,it was a difficult moment for me,” said Mishra. “Though every thing was done in a proper manner,a doubt lingered in my mind that whether the results were correct or not,” he said. “On the second day,when seven more tested positive at Coronation apartment,I gained confidence,” he added.