ebola | MY SPECIAL DOCTOR

In the general silence of the Western media, the second largest Ebola outbreak in history has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo for several weeks, with hundreds of deaths.

Since the first patients were diagnosed in North Kivu province in late summer, experts from the World Health Organization and other public health groups have been working to contain the spread of the virus and, given the emergency, have resorted to several experimental vaccines, licensed for human administration even before approval by regulatory agencies, under a protocol for compassionate use.

One of the difficulties in preventing the spread of virus outbreaks is the lack of rapid and accurate diagnostic tests. Currently, blood must be drawn from infected suspects and the samples sent to a laboratory for analysis: the process takes several days, and during this time infected people may continue to move within the community even when they should be quarantined.

As you can read in Science Translational Medicine, a potentially revolutionary breakthrough comes from an international research team that has developed a portable, battery-powered device that can detect the presence of Ebola virus particles in a small blood sample in less than 30 minutes.

In early evaluations, conducted in both animal and human models, the device correctly identified 90 percent of Ebola cases and provided only 2.1 percent false positives.

The researchers were surprised by an unexpected fact: although developed for the diagnosis of Ebola, the test proved capable of indentifying malaria, with 100 percent sensitivity and 99.6 percent specificity, and Lassa fever.

The test makes use of surface-amplified Raman spectroscopy, commonly called Sers, a technique that exploits the amplification of Raman scattering by molecules absorbed on an irregular metal surface: normal cells, viruses, and the malaria parasite reflect light in different, recognizable ways, which the device is able to intercept. “If the results are confirmed,” the authors wrote , “the technique may be useful in outbreaks of febrile-type infectious diseases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Fda) has authorized the marketing of a rapid diagnostic test to detect Ebola virus antigens in human blood. It is the first of its kind and provides a quick and presumptive diagnosis, which must then be confirmed with more extensive testing.

“This is an important tool in the effort to combat Ebola, which continues to be a priority of the U.S. government, particularly in working with our partners, including the World Health Organization, to help address the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),” said Fda Commissioner Ned Sharpless. The epidemic he refers to does not get much coverage in Western media, but it has been active since 2014 and has already killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa. Therapies know they are improving, but one of the most important tools for stopping outbreaks is rapid diagnosis. The ability to use the new test for a presumptive diagnosis of Ebola could help isolate patients more quickly and begin treatments that can save their lives and are more effective if done in the early stages of the disease. One of the circumstances in which the Ebola virus spreads is through burials of corpses, and according to the Fda, “the test could be used on these occasions as well, to support safe and dignified burials.”

The disease caused by the Ebola virus is a serious, often fatal disease in humans that can spread through direct contact with contaminated blood or body fluids or objects, as well as from the bodies of those who have died from the virus.

The Ministry of Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo is making significant efforts to contain the current epidemic with support from the World Health Organization and other partners. These measures include campaigns to promote good hygiene, large-scale vaccination campaigns, setting up specialized treatment centers where those infected or exposed to the virus can receive experimental therapies, and comprehensive efforts to track and prevent the spread of the virus.