Posted on 10/13/2014 2:10:08 PM PDT by BBell
It can take three minutes to know if you're pregnant, but hours or days to know if you've contracted Ebola.
Scientists with Tulane University are working frantically to change that.
Dr. Robert Garry, the Tulane professor of microbiology and immunology who helps lead the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium based in Sierra Leone, said that early detection and diagnosis should go a long way toward stemming the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
In June, the National Institutes of Health awarded his team 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.
"Everyone has their shoulder to the wheel to get this done," Garry said from his office on the New Orleans campus.
Not only could the test allow doctors and nurses to respond more quickly to patients who need to be isolated, it gives them a way to draw blood without exposing health care workers to as much risk as they face using syringes with long needles.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other officials confirmed Sunday that a nurse who had cared for deceased patient Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas had become infected. Hospital and federal officials said that it was probably the result of an accidental breach in protective protocol, even though she was said to have been wearing a gown, mask, shield and gloves while having contact with him.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the Department of Defense emergency authorization to use a similar finger-prick test on military personnel, aid workers and emergency responders in labs designated by the U.S. military to respond to Ebola. The fast-track authorization allows providers to use the test for limited
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Godspeed to them.
PING!
Why does “race” have to be the topic of every discussion today?
Ohhh.... nevermind.
The F word.
‘Faster’ will likely lead to ‘Falser’ ...
False results very much add to the problem.
What is the hazmat disposal for the test strips? You will be obtaining “body fluids” of a potentially infectious nature.
They must have a target density of virons that they hope to detect. That in turn will determine how early in the disease they can detect infection, and at what point false negatives (missing early stage disease) become unlikely.
If the test is quick, that’s good. But, if the test only works when people are pretty far along, it may just buy a few days of safety.
I hope it works, and that it works reliably and early!
Very appreciative of their work. God Bless them.
Barrack EObolabama, Holder, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and the ACLU will try to ban this test if developed as racists and profiling.
Dr. Brantly's first test came back negative. He had enough virus in him to make him sick but not enough for the test to detect. His second test, several days later, was positive.
Hopefully, this new test is more sensitive.
According to the article:
..............”The Tulane researchers’ test is designed to detect Ebola proteins, while the Pentagon’s test examines viral genomes.”................
whatever that means.
Hey... what were you saying?
False negatives would have far more serious consequences than false positives.
False positives could be detected by retesting, with a better instrument.
False negatives could have deadly consequences.
It’s o.k. Emily.
The disposable tests that will be applied in bulk (who knows maybe even at airports and other points of entry) will have a heavy footprint for garbage processing.
Has this been considered? What to do with the used pieces? Incineration? Nuclear waste dump? Load up a rocket and send it to the sun?
BLUF:
Ebola can be contained only if the total number of confirmed cases remain low and within our health system’s ability to treat.. If the confirmed numbers of Ebola infections rapidly increase there will be a point where the health treatment (quarantine and/or supportive care) breaks down and Ebola becomes pandemic.
When it comes to “instant” Ebola testing I would be perfectly happy for false positives in place of false negatives. What?
Any fast Ebola test is not the end all of testing. It is merely the first step of testing. As long as this fast testing catches EVERY Ebola infection it would be, IMHO, perfect. It would NOT be acceptable for an Ebola infection to go undetected.
I view this fast testing as the first layer of defense. The next level would be a more extensive series of testing, similar to what the CDC currently does in their “hot” labs.
This next level of testing would focus strictly on those who tested “positive” on the first series of testing. I will be perfectly happy to see a large number of false positives from the first level identified and released. Even if released into a quarantine of some type until the Ebola incubation has run its course would be okay. Again, it will be unacceptable for a false negative to happen.
Why am I so worried about false negatives? Each misdiagnosed case of Ebola could cause hundreds of new cases - see the numbers increase in Dallas, TX. It will be these large numbers of actual/possible Ebola cases that would swamp our ability to contain/treat Ebola.
No need to administer it to liberals and the GOPe—they’re all pricks!
Bring Out Your Dead
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
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