FDA approves Ebola test for emergency use as possibly exposed CDC worker remains healthy
The new test, made by Swiss drugmaker Roche, can detect Ebola in three hours. Standard tests take almost a day. Meanwhile, the lab technician possibly exposed to Ebola last week is asymptomatic.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, December 29, 2014, 10:52 AM
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HANDOUT/REUTERA new test can detect the Ebola virus, pictured, in about three hours.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to a fast-acting Ebola diagnostic tool.
Roche's LightMix Ebola Zaire rRT-PCR Test detects the virus in a little more than three hours. Standard Ebola tests can take about a day. The earlier a diagnosis is given, the quicker treatment can begin.
The test been approved for emergency use, which means that some labs in the U.S. and abroad can use it for a restricted amount of time. It's not available to the general public yet.
Meanwhile, the lab worker at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who may have been exposed to Ebola last week is still healthy.
"Only one technician was exposed. So far she's showing no signs of having the disease. She's being monitored every day," President Obama's "Ebola Czar" Ron Klain told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
TAMI CHAPPELL/REUTERSThe unidentified CDC worker who may have been exposed to Ebola last week remains asymptomatic.
The unidentified worker was supposed to have been handling inactive Ebola samples, but it was later determined that the samples may have contained live virus, the CDC said.
She will be continued to be monitored for 21 days total, the virus' incubation period.
Only two people — two nurses in Dallas — have caught Ebola on U.S. soil, and they both made full recoveries.
