A UK-based Biotech company has come up with a new blood test that can help detect Ebola very early.
Interestingly, the new test developed by Primer Design, a spin-off from the University of Southampton, can give results within 90 minutes. Apart from that, it is also simple, cheap and easy to use, Business Standard reported.
"Accurate diagnostics is essential in controlling an outbreak like Ebola. There is an urgent need for rapid testing to screen suspected patients and people travelling in and out of the region," Dr Jim Wicks, Managing Director of Primerdesign, said in a statement. "Our test is quick, affordable and easy to perform."
The test, which works by detecting DNA finger print of the deadly virus, makes it easy to detect the disease at a very early stage and give an early intervention.
"Viruses all have a unique genetic fingerprint the same as we do. Ours is encoded in DNA but the Ebola virus uses RNA (Ribonucleic acid)," the researchers while explaining their product wrote. "So the kit is designed to specifically detect the Ebola RNA in a patient blood sample."
The process involves only a few steps: extracting DNA from blood samples, mixing it with kit ingredients and analysing the sample with the help of a machine.
The product is already ready for use and the company has approached the World Health Organisation (WHO) to make their diagnostic kit available in the Ebola-hit West Africa.
While efforts to end the Ebola epidemic are on, the deadly virus is continuing its successful stride by sickening and killing more and more people across the world. According to the WHO, the crisis is not going to end very soon.
The WHO assistant director-general Dr Bruce Aylward, while addressing a press conference held in Geneva on Tuesday said that "a lot more people will die" and about 10,000 new cases in a week can be expected within the next two months.
