Nigeria has been declared Ebola free yesterday 20th October 2014, by WHO but what happens to the other west African countries still battling with the virus, We need to work hand in hand to prevent this deadly viral disease from re-entering into our dear country because as long as the disease is not contained in those west african countries, we are very delicate.
But there is hope to new development and ways of determining this viral disease faster as a new device similar to a simple pregnancy home-test could allow doctors to
diagnose a patient with suspected Ebola in under 15 minutes, its French
developers said Tuesday.
Trials at a high-security lab have validated the technique and prototype
kits should be available in Ebola-hit countries by the end of October for a
clinical trial, France’s
Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) said in a statement.
The diagnostic tool, not yet approved by regulators, works by monoclonal
antibodies reacting to the presence of virus in a tiny sample, which can be a
drop of blood, plasma or urine, it said.
A European pharma company Vedalab is turning it into a user-friendly kit
called Ebola eZYSCREEN.
Similar to a DIY pregnancy test, a positive result sees a small stripe
showing up in a results window on the hand-held device.
The kit is simple to use in the field without any additional equipment, said
the CEA, which also does non-nuclear research with a possible military or
security application.
“It can give a result in less than 15 minutes for anyone showing symptoms of
the disease,” it said.
“Current tests, which are based on genetic detection of the virus, are
highly sensitive but need special equipment, take between two and a quarter and
two and a half hours and can only be carried out in a lab,” the CEA explained.
Scientists at the agency began working on the diagnostic tool in mid-August,
when the epidemic in Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone
worsened. The test is for the so-called Zaire
ebolavirus, the strain now circulating in West Africa.
Source: Vanguard
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