A new Ebola test under development by a team of European scientists will make it possible to screen people where they live–eliminating the risk of infection during a long ambulance journey to a field hospital.
“If you don’t already have Ebola, then you’re certain to have caught it after a trip in the ambulance,” says Professor Anders Fomsgaard, consultant at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the Danish center for diseases control. Fomsgaard is part of the team developing the new test.
Such a vaccine would’ve curbed the rapid spread of Ebola during the major epidemic in West Africa — and it could have prevented many deaths, says Fomsgaard, by eliminating grouping together infected and non-infected patients.
“Being able to make a quick and precise diagnosis is of tremendous importance,” says Fomsgaard. “Our intention is for the test to be just a simple as a pregnancy test.”
The research project has received an EU research grant of EUR 4.3 million. The goal is to start using a workable test as soon as possible.
Source: ScienceNordic
