Ebola detected within MINUTES with new test device

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New device requires just a pinprick of blood and can be used at bedside
Is as accurate as traditional lab tests that can take days, experts say
Works similarly to a home pregnancy test, with coloured line being positive
Comes as figures show many have died from malaria during the epidemic

Published: 18:01 EST, 25 June 2015 | Updated: 02:19 EST, 26 June 2015

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A new safe test that detects Ebola within minutes could help doctors stop the spread of the deadly disease.

The device, which requires just a pinprick of blood, can be used at the bedside of patients and is as accurate as traditional lab tests that can take days.

A drop of blood is taken from a finger prick performed with a safety lancet, which has a spring-loaded mechanism that prevents health care workers from accidental stabbing themselves with the needle after the sample is taken.

It works similarly to a home pregnancy test, with the sample applied to a treated strip.

If the sample is positive for Ebola, a coloured line appears on the strip at a specific location.

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The new Ebola test within minutes could help doctors stop the spread of the deadly disease. Pictured, the wrapped remains of a new born child suspected of contracting the Ebola virus, in Dubreka, Guinea

It does away with the need to build biologically secure laboratories, the need to take large blood samples with needles and then transport them long distances which runs the risk of contaminating health workers.

And doctors can isolate infected patients more quickly, so reducing the risk of it spreading and starting treatments earlier so survival chances are improved.

A field trial of the test, developed by the US company Corgenix, took place at two treatment centres run by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone.

A total of 106 patients suspected of having Ebola were given the fingerprick test and also had their blood analysed the normal way.

Every case of Ebola confirmed in the laboratory using the standard procedure was detected by the bedside test, with very few non-infected people wrongly testing positive.

However both tests failed to pick up a small number of Ebola cases that were identified by an alternative ultra-sensitive lab test which is not widely available.

The device works similarly to a home pregnancy test, with the sample applied to a treated strip. If the sample is positive for Ebola, a coloured line appears on the strip at a specific location

Dr Nira Pollock, from Boston Children's Hospital in the US, who led a trial of the test reported in The Lancet medical journal, said: 'Simplifying the process and speeding up diagnosis could have a major impact.'

The device was the ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test developed by Corgenix.

The Public Health England lab at Port Loko in Sierra Leone, where clinical samples were routinely sent for standard molecular diagnostic testing, confirmed diagnosis.

Ebola epidemic 'lead to surge in malaria deaths'

Malaria likely killed many more people than usual in the West African nation of Guinea during last year's Ebola outbreak, a new study suggests.

This is because tens of thousands of people with potential signs of the mosquito-spread disease probably shunned health clinics.

The early symptoms of malaria - a fever and body aches - are similar to Ebola.

Health workers said many people with malaria were afraid of catching Ebola at a medical facility or being mistakenly sent to an Ebola clinic.

Experts based their conclusions in part on data such as how many people with malaria symptoms were seen at health clinics in four regions hardest hit by Ebola - and how many malaria medicines were given out.

They compared that to regions without Ebola and concluded there were about 74,000 probable malaria cases that went untreated.

Malaria is the leading killer of children in Guinea.

Malaria likely killed many more people than usual in the West African nation of Guinea during last year's Ebola outbreak, a new study suggests. Health workers said many people with malaria were afraid of catching Ebola at a medical facility or being mistakenly sent to an Ebola clinic

Since the Ebola outbreak was first identified in the forests of Guinea in March 2014, officials estimate the virus has killed more than 2,400 people in the country.

In 2013, about 15,000 people in Guinea were killed by malaria, according to Nets for Life Africa, a U.S. charity.

Mateusz Plucinski of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who led the study, said it was difficult to say how many people among the 74,000 suspected cases might have died of malaria.

But he added it was probably 'substantially higher' than the number of Ebola deaths.

The research was paid for by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative. It was published online Tuesday in the journal, Lancet Infectious Diseases.

In an email, Franco Pagnoni, of the World Health Organisation, said it was possible Ebola could have also caused spikes in malaria cases in the other countries heavily affected by Ebola - and this, in turn could have undermined previous efforts to curb malaria.

Health officials also worry the stress of the Ebola outbreak on Guinea's weak health system also resulted in a drop in vaccination coverage, putting the country at risk of a resurgence of diseases such as measles and polio.

What is ebola and where did it come from? (related)