The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the first rapid diagnostic test for Ebola. The test does not need electricity, only requires a few drops of blood from a finger prick, and can return results in 15 minutes. It will be a great help to health workers in remote areas.
tests based on the current PCR require a blood sample taken by the needle, the safe transport of blood to a well equipped laboratory with trained staff, and at least several hours to return results. Depending how far a suspect from a testing laboratory, it can take more than a day to receive the test results.
The new test, produced by Corgenix, a company in Broomfield, Colorado, uses antibodies to identify a specific protein of the Ebola virus. The list price will be about $ 15 per test, said Robert Garry, an expert haemorrhagic disease at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, who helped develop the test. But reductions are available, he said, for bulk purchases and suppliers for use in Africa.
In its announcement, the WHO declared that the test correctly identified 92% of people infected and 85% of those not infected. The test will be supported by PCR tests, Garry agrees. "A quick test is always going to be tested," he said. "And no diagnosis can replace the judgment of a health professional."
The number of Ebola cases has declined since the peak of the epidemic in September and October. But in Guinea and Sierra Leone, dozens of new cases continue to appear each week, many of which are unrelated to known chains of transmission. The rapid test will be useful for quickly identifying new hot spots, said Garry
* Ebola files :. Given the current Ebola outbreak unprecedented in terms of the number of people killed and the rapid geographic spread, science and Science Translational Medicine made a collection of research articles and news on the viral disease available for researchers and the general public.
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