Bedside Ebola Test Accurate

A bedside blood test for Ebola detected all of the cases that were positive on a standard assay and most of those that were negative, researchers reported.

Importantly, the Corgenix ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test was faster than a widely used commercial assay that employs polymerase chain reactions (PCR), according to Nira Pollock, MD, PhD, of Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues.

But the analysis uncovered weaknesses in a standard PCR test, made by altona Diagnostics of Hamburg, Germany, that make it unclear how well the rapid test functions early in the disease course, when patients are less infectious, Pollock and colleagues reported online in The Lancet.

The latter finding “suggests that practical use of the rapid diagnostic test will need careful confirmation,” commented Nahid Bhadelia, MD, of Boston University School of Medicine.

In an accompanying editorial, Bhadelia said just completing the study — in the face of the “logistical, staff safety, and administrative obstacles” of the Ebola outbreak — is a feat in itself.