Breakthrough in rapid mass screening for the Ebola virus

A new, faster and safer way of diagnosing the Ebola virus has been developed by an academic from Northumbria University, Newcastle. Research led and carried out by Dr Sterghios Moschos at Northumbria means that patients with Ebola-like symptoms can be identified and treated much sooner and at the point of care, helping to reduce the spread of the disease and risks to others. During the Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014, patients tested for the disease had to provide a blood sample fortesting in a specialist lab by highly trained staff., There are only a few of these facilities in the world, including Public Health England’s Lab in Porton Down in the UK, with each diagnosis of the Ebola virus genome taking between5-8 hours to confirm. Thanks to the efforts of Dr Moschos’ research team, working with a manufacturer of innovative diagnostic solutions, a new point of care diagnostic platform – EbolaCheck –...