Express Ebola test developed
A rapid-detection Ebola test has been deployed following a highly effective pilot project.
The project, which was led by the Pasteur Institute of Dakar and involved the Wellcome Trust, saw the deployment of a sophisticated point-of-care saliva test, all contained within a suitcase-sized mobile laboratory. As a result, three mobile labs are now deployed in Senegal and Guinea where a test evaluation of 928 samples showed that the test performs positively under field conditions.
Speaking about the results, Dr Manfred Weidmann, a virologist at the University of Stirling in the UK and who was involved in the project, commented: “There are more than 25 laboratories in West Africa and everyone is using different tests. Ours, which uses a method called recombinase polymerase amplification, was compared to two other tests and results show it can be reliably used without the need for a confirmatory test, and it appears to outperform a widely used WHO recommended test.
“There has been a huge push for robotic testing systems, but they are difficult to establish and expensive to maintain. Our project has successfully developed and deployed a low cost mobile laboratory using a rapid, highly sensitive and specific assay which can be stored at room temperature and operated by local teams with its own energy supply.”
Weidmann is currently midway through a two-year Innovative Medicines Initiative project bringing together scientists from across Europe and Africa to further develop bedside rapid diagnostics.
The research results are published in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control journal Eurosurveillance.
