Japanese Researchers Develop A 30-Minute Ebola Test

(Photo: Health workers wearing protective clothing prepare themselves
before to carrying an abandoned dead body presenting with Ebola
symptoms at Duwala market in Monrovia Aug. 17, 2014.)

Japanese researchers said Tuesday they had developed a new method to
detect the presence of the Ebola virus in 30 minutes, with technology
that could allow doctors to quickly diagnose infection.

Professor Jiro Yasuda and his team at Nagasaki University say their
process is also cheaper than the system currently in use in west
Africa where the virus has already killed more than 1,500 people.

"The new method is simpler than the current one and can be used in
countries where expensive testing equipment is not available," Yasuda
told AFP by telephone.

"We have yet to receive any questions or requests, but we are pleased
to offer the system, which is ready to go," he said.

Yasuda said the team had developed what he called a "primer", which
amplifies only those genes specific to the Ebola virus found in a
blood sample or other bodily fluid.

Using existing techniques, ribonucleic acid (RNA) -- biological
molecules used in the coding of genes -- is extracted from any viruses
present in a blood sample.

This is then used to synthesise the viral DNA, which can be mixed with
the primers and then heated to 60-65 degrees Celsius (140-149
Fahrenheit).

If Ebola is present, DNA specific to the virus is amplified in 30
minutes due to the action of the primers. The by-products from the
process cause the liquid to become cloudy, providing visual
confirmation, Yasuda said.

Currently, a method called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is
widely used to detect the Ebola virus, which requires doctors to heat
and cool samples repeatedly and takes up to two hours.

"The new method only needs a small, battery-powered warmer and the
entire system costs just tens of thousands of yen (hundreds of
dollars), which developing countries should be able to afford," he
added.

The outbreak of the Ebola virus, transmitted through contact with
infected bodily fluids, has sparked alarm throughout western Africa
and further afield.

AFP