15-Minute Ebola Test Approved For Fighting The Epidemic

From NPR's Goats and Soda Blog, by way of The Guardian of Public Health

The World Health Organization approved the first quick test for Ebola Friday. The test gives results in about 15 minutes, instead of hours. So people infected can get treatment and be quarantined more quickly.

"It's definitely a breakthrough," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said Friday in Geneva.

The standard test used now requires a special laboratory. Getting samples to and from those labs is a huge challenge. During the epidemic, samples were often transported on canoes and motorbikes or carried by hand for miles through the jungle.

The new test, called ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test, requires much less equipment. It's simply a piece of paper and a test tube. And it doesn't need electricity.

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