Japan Develops 30 Minute 'Simplified' Ebola Test For West Africa
Researchers in Japan announced this week that they have developed an advanced 30 minute test for the Ebola virus that could expedite the process of confirming infected individuals.
Jiro Yasuda, a professor at Nagasaki University, developed the new testing method with his team. He told AFP reporters this week that the new method is both simpler and less expensive than previous methods, and can be made readily available to medical professionals in West Africa who are currently combatting the largest Ebola outbreak in history.
The new test reportedly uses the combination of RNA and DNA, mixed with a primer, to identify the existence of the Ebola virus in a blood sample. While the previous test called for the cooling and reheating of a blood sample that could take hours, this newest invention only needs to be heated once and would take a total of 30 minutes to confirm an Ebola strain.
"The new method is simpler than the current one and can be used in countries where expensive testing equipment is not available," Yasuda told the AFP in a recent interview. "We have yet to receive any questions or requests, but we are pleased to offer the system, which is ready to go," he said.
"The new method only needs a small, battery-powered warmer and the entire system costs just tens of thousands of yen (hundreds of dollars), which developing countries should be able to afford," the professor added.
Earlier in August, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said his government would be willing to provide an experimental Ebola drug, known as T-705, to West African patients before it was approved by the World Health Organization.
"I am informed that medical professionals could make a request for T-705 in an emergency even before a decision by the WHO. In that case, we would like to respond under certain criteria," Suga said in a statement.
The current outbreak of Ebola has killed over 1,400 and infected over 3,000 in several West African countries, hitting Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria especially hard. The United Nations' World Health Organization confirmed earlier in August that given the massive Ebola outbreak, it would be ethical to distribute experimental Ebola drugs to patients before they had been extensively tested on humans.
