Japan finds way to identify Ebola virus within 30 minutes
AFP news agency reported on September 2 that Japanese scientists have developed a method that can detect the Ebola virus in the human body within just 30 minutes.
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| Medical staff disinfect at Pita hospital in Guinea. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
The invention was made by Professor Jiro Yasuda and his colleagues at Nagasaki University. The new method has the advantage of being cheap and shortening the time to detect Ebola virus to just 30 minutes instead of several hours.
Professor Yasuda said his team developed what they called a “primer” – a piece of RNA (ribonucleic acid) that enhances the Ebola genes in the patient sample. They then took a DNA sample containing the Ebola strain and heated it to 60-65 degrees Celsius. If the samples became opaque within 30 minutes, it meant there was Ebola virus in the human body.
According to the researchers, the new method is simple and can be used in countries where testing facilities are not available.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 3,000 cases of Ebola virus infection have been recorded globally, including 1,552 deaths./
According to Vietnam+
