A Broomfield company’s rapid field test to diagnose the Ebola virus was found to be accurate in an independent study reported Thursday in Science and the British medical journal The Lancet.
rapid finger-stick kit identified Ebola in each of 28 patients who were also tested by clinical laboratory methods, according to the study conducted in Sierra Leone.
In a larger group of 77 patients who tested negative in laboratory tests, the rapid test confirmed the negative diagnosis in 71, for an accuracy rate of 92.2 percent.
The study was directed by Partners In Health, a Boston-based global health organization.
“The results, in our opinion, were magnificent,” said Doug Simpson, who was president and CEO of Corgenix until it was , a German maker of diagnostic tools. Simpson is now a consultant to the company.
“It affirms the value of our product,” he said.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa. The virus shows no sign of abating in Guinea and might be flaring up again in Sierra Leone, The Associated Press reported Thursday. But the total number of cases has decreased since the peak of the outbreak.
“The severe outbreaks that occurred last year are done,” Simpson said. “But the demand now is to quickly catch any hot-pocket outbreaks that occur, and to be ready with a full cadre of diagnostic products and facilities.”
Earlier this year, the World Health Organization said the rapid test to allow it to be purchased and distributed by U.N. agencies and aid groups.
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp
