[Global News] Tulane doctor developing new test for Ebola that’s quick & safer

[Towelie]

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) - Tulane's Dr. Robert Garry has spent the last several months frantically working to find a way to help control the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

"We've seen it spread now internationally to the United States, to Spain. There's a lot of potential for other cases. We don't want to see this virus turn up in other parts of the world that have poor health care infrastructure," says Professor of Microbiology at Tulane Medical School Dr. Robert Garry.

It's why Dr. Garry is devoting much of his time to developing and perfecting a test that would detect the Ebola virus in minutes, not days. He's part of a team of close to 200 people based in Sierra Leone. The test not only provides a quick answer, Dr. Garry says it's also safer.

"The current test requires that you take a tube of blood from a person's arm, first of all that's a risk for the person drawing the blood. What our test allows you to do is just use a finger prick; very safe device, small drop of blood, you can put a band-aid over it. You don't have to expose the person drawing the blood to the risk of a needle or a needle stick. Then you take that small drop of blood, put it on this device, 15 minutes later you have a result," explains Dr. Garry.

As of now a patient with signs of Ebola would have to wait 24 to 72 hours for results.

Dr. Garry says the tests would be used in West Africa to diagnose patients quickly, but they could also be useful in the United States at airports and hospitals. He says his team is doing field tests now, and if all works well he hopes to deploy them for mass use within a month.

"Everybody's got their shoulder up against the wheel, pushing as hard as we can, so with a little bit of luck and a lot of teamwork I think we can get this done pretty quickly," says Dr. Garry.

Dr. Garry says they're also looking into how soon the new test could detect Ebola. Right now someone isn't contagious until they're exhibiting symptoms, so if this test can determine whether someone has Ebola when they're practically symptom free it could help keep that person from infecting others.