(Reuters) - The World Health Organization is seeking faster and cheaper tests to detect the Ebola virus to help stamp out the last few cases of the deadly fever once the main epidemic has been tackled, WHO officials said on Tuesday.
The world's worst ever outbreak of Ebola has killed over 5,000 people, almost all in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. While the number of cases has been falling in Liberia, the outbreak remains out of control with continuing spread in Sierra Leone and parts of Guinea and a new cluster of cases in Mali.
Ebola tests currently take 2-6 hours to deliver a result and are "cumbersome, slow and complex", requiring a full tube of blood, sophisticated equipment, trained staff and a high level of bio-safety, the WHO's Pierre Formenty said.
More at http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/18/us-health-ebola-tests-idUSKCN0J223T20141118
The world's worst ever outbreak of Ebola has killed over 5,000 people, almost all in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. While the number of cases has been falling in Liberia, the outbreak remains out of control with continuing spread in Sierra Leone and parts of Guinea and a new cluster of cases in Mali.
Ebola tests currently take 2-6 hours to deliver a result and are "cumbersome, slow and complex", requiring a full tube of blood, sophisticated equipment, trained staff and a high level of bio-safety, the WHO's Pierre Formenty said.
More at http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/18/us-health-ebola-tests-idUSKCN0J223T20141118