Public Officials may soon be able to use finger prick test that detects Ebola within minutes.
Washington Post describes this development as a significant victory for scientists around the world who have been experimenting over the past year with all manner of vaccines, treatments and other ways of eradicating the virus.
Nira Pollock, an associate medical director of the infectious diseases diagnostic laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital who is also a co-author of the study said that “Delays like this result not only in the failure to diagnose and treat Ebola-infected patients, but also in individuals without Ebola being admitted to holding units where they may be subsequently infected with the virus.”
The new test was evaluated in two government-run treatment centers in Sierra Leone.
The research team compared the accuracy of the finger prick test with the laboratory test in 106 individuals suspected of having Ebola.
The finger prick test identified 100 per cent of all infected patients who also got positive results with the lab test.
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