Field Evaluation of Capillary Blood Samples as a Collection Specimen for the Rapid Diagnosis of Ebola Virus Infection During an Outbreak Emergency.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Reliable reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based diagnosis of Ebola virus infection currently requires a blood sample obtained by intravenous puncture. During the current Ebola outbreak in Guinea, we evaluated the usability of capillary blood samples collected from fingersticks of patients suspected of having Ebola virus disease (EVD) for field diagnostics during an outbreak emergency.

Methods

A total of 120 venous and capillary blood samples were collected from 53 patients admitted to the Ebola Treatment Centre in Guéckédou, Guinea, between July and August 2014. All sample specimens were analyzed by RT-PCR using the RealStar Filovirus Screen RT-PCR Kit 1.0 from altona Diagnostics (Germany). We compared samples obtained by venipuncture and t

SUBMITTER: Strecker T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4530726 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature