The US health care symptom, with all its inherent weaknesses and flaws, can manage an outbreak of Ebola reasonably well. Except for one not insignificant factor. The early symptoms of Ebola are sore-throat, headache, low-grade fever, fatigue, and body aches. Most of which appear if not simultaneously, then in very rapid succession but not in any particular order. For example, Will Pooley of the UK:
His first sign of illness was a sore throat. Overnight he developed aches, a headache and felt “pretty rough” but still went to work. That afternoon he was tested and he went home to await the results.
He had himself tested because he was a nurse working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. Test results came back positive early the next morning and he was evacuated to the Royal Free hospital in London later that day. Ten days later he was fully cured and released from the hospital.
Sore throat – headache – low-grade fever – fatigue – body aches. Not different from what develops from many viruses. There is only one clinical fact that can be used to help discriminate between other viruses and Malaria and Ebola at this stage and that is recent contact or possible contact with a symptomatic EVD victim. There have been patients that denied such possible contact and the consequences have been tragic. USians are more likely to imagine such contact when the possibility is slim to none. On such high alert, hospitals could be overwhelmed with patients experiencing minor cold or flu symptoms and fearing Ebola. Getting them in and out of care quickly will be several times more difficult. The bottleneck will be isolation until test results are completed. And that could be one to two days.
Like with the Ebola vaccine and drug treatment research and testing (a huge topic that is far beyond what I can tackle), Tulane researchers race to develop rapid Ebola finger-prick test.
In June [2014], the National Institutes of Health awarded his team [Tulane] and Corgenix Medical Corp. $2.9 million to develop a rapid diagnostic test that would give health care workers a fast and easy way to test patients for Ebola with a simple finger-stick.
Can we and Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have it yesterday? Or today? That would be no.
Corgenix CEO Douglass Simpson said that as a reaction to the recent outbreak, the VHFC has shifted most of its efforts to the final phase of activity contemplated by the current NIH grant. Simpson also noted that, contrary to recent reports in the press, Corgenix has not finalized development of the Ebola products. “I want to strongly emphasize that this is a new three-year project, building off work commenced in 2010. We do not currently have an Ebola test nor will we likely have a final one in the near future,” said Simpson. “We understand the critical nature of this virus and are doing everything possible to accelerate efforts to develop reliable and rapid result diagnostic kits in order to be ready for the next outbreak.”
Is there anything else out there? Could be a long-shot, but sometimes emergencies are the mother of inventions. Students Invent Ebola Detection Strips
On the first day of biology class this semester [2014], Emory freshmen Brian Goldstone and Rostam Zafari received a challenge from their professor: develop an experimental test for the Ebola virus for extra credit on a quiz.
Goldstone and Zafari took the challenge to heart and developed the idea for REDS: Rapid Ebola Detection Strips.
An idea that raised over $6,000 on Indigogo to start the project. Doesn’t appear that they have a proof of concept yet, but they don’t lack for vigor, enthusiasm, and optimism.
They said they hope to have the prototype ready by the end of October and to mass-produce the system by the beginning of next year.
They are now beginning to get more attention
Health experts at other universities see potential and value in REDS.
“I think this is a fantastic breakthrough if the strips have good sensitivity and specificity,” says Michelle Barry, senior dean associate dean for global health at Stanford University. …
A little hope, even if it doesn’t work out, in the midst of a difficult and potentially global health issue.
Update: US Has Test That Can Detect Ebola Virus In Seconds (But It’s Stuck In A Lab).
Researchers at a government lab have developed a minimally invasive test for Ebola that could cut the time it takes to diagnose cases of the lethal virus from days and hours to minutes or even seconds, International Business Times has learned. The Department of Energy, which invented the procedure at its Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Knoxville, Tennessee, is now scrambling to find a partner to commercialize the technology.
…
Gee — maybe NIH, CDC, and DOE infectious scientists should talk to one another when an epidemic is raging.
In a solicitation-for-contractors document, DOE describes its test as a “rapid, portable viral diagnostic for RNA viruses,” including, specifically, Ebola hemorrhagic fever. RNA viruses are made from genetic material comprising ribonucleic acid. In addition to Ebola, the DOE said the test can quickly detect Hanta, Dengue, West Nile and several other exotic viruses.
Maybe a contractor that can put this on a super fast track will come forward.